UK announces plan to ban exports of luxury goods to Russia
UK ministers have announced plans to pile further pressure on Vladimir Putin by banning exports of luxury goods to Russia as the health secretary accused Moscow of war crimes amid repeated attacks on Ukrainian hospitals.
The announcement of the plans, details of which Downing Street said would be set out in the coming days, came as the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and other G7 leaders committed to increasing pressure on the Russian president.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, heavily criticised Russia for its attacks on health facilities and accused its forces of war crimes. He said Russia must stop its aggression, describing the invasion of Ukraine as “a war started by Russia, completely unprovoked, completely unjustified”.
He added: “What we are seeing from Russia, especially the attacks on health facilities, where the WHO have reported over 25 health facilities, including hospitals, have been targeted or hit for whatever reason, [is] completely unacceptable reasons by Russian forces.
“This is a war crime, and Russia will pay for the crimes that it is carrying out in Ukraine today.”
The UK has imposed sanctions on nearly 400 Russian parliamentarians as ministers attempt to “tighten the screw” on Moscow.
The G7 agreed to take steps to deny Russia its “most favoured nation” status on key products, which No 10 said would significantly cut Russian businesses’ ability to export.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the UK stood “united with our G7 partners” and that it would “continue strengthening our response” to put pressure on Russia.
But the government came under criticism from Labour, which said the ban should already have been implemented.
“Labour has been calling for weeks now for a ban on luxury goods being sent to
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