Johnson hits five banks and three Putin ‘cronies’ with sanctions over Ukraine

The Prime Minister warned on Tuesday that the Kremlin appeared to be “establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive” by sending troops in the Donbas region under the guise of being “peacekeepers”.

Officials said a “much longer list” of oligarchs is being considered for further sanctions after Conservative MPs joined Labour in calling for Mr Johnson to impose stronger measures immediately.

Sanctions are also set to be imposed against Russian politicians who voted to recognise the “independence” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine in what was condemned by western leaders as a major provocation.

Mr Johnson told the Commons that immediate sanctions are being deployed against three “very high net wealth individuals”, Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg, who he described as “cronies” of the Russian president.

The sanctions, which include UK asset freezes, a travel ban and prohibition on British individuals and businesses dealing with them, were also tabled against Russian banks Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank.

“This the first tranche, the first barrage, of what we are prepared to do, and we hold further sanctions at readiness to be deployed,” Mr Johnson told MPs, before warning it is “inevitable” he will return with a “much bigger package”.

The Prime Minister also applied pressure on European football governing body Uefa not to hold its Champions League final in St Petersburg in June, saying there should be “no chance of holding football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries”.

With Russia also amassing nearly 200,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, Mr Johnson said: “The House should be in no doubt that the deployment of these forces in sovereign Ukrainian territory amounts to a renewed invasion of that country.

“And by denying Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state, and presenting its very existence as a mortal threat to Russia, Putin is establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive.”

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said “a threshold has already been breached” as he called for firmer action now.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith suggested Russia should be hit “hard and hit them now” to increase the pain of the current incursion.

Commons Defence Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said “sanctions alone will not be enough” and warned that “untargeted sanctions may play into Putin’s plan to pivot Russia ever-closer to China”.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters the current measures are “harsh” but insisted “there are still more sanctions in the tank”.

In a statement, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added that the Government is “prepared to go much further if Russia does not pull back from the brink”.

In other developments:

– German Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocked the certification of the Nord Stream 2, scuppering the gas pipeline to Germany that would have been highly lucrative to Moscow in a move welcomed by Ms Truss as a “strong response”.

– Motorists were being warned that petrol could hit £1.50 per litre after oil prices rose to their highest level since 2014.

– Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin was told his country would “pay the price for its actions” after he was summoned to the Foreign Office.

– The White House set the stage for strong sanctions by escalating its language to call the Russian moves on Ukraine an invasion.

– The European Union tabled sanctions that would hit Russian officials, banks financing the Russian military and limit Moscow’s access to the EU’s financial markets.

Mr Putin continued escalating the tensions by asking Russia’s parliament for permission to use force outside the country, which could pave the way for a wider attack on Ukraine.

At a press conference in Moscow, he called for the government in Kyiv to give up its hopes of joining Nato and to accept the complete “demilitarisation” of their country.

“This would mean that the Western leaders would not lose face,” he said.

The Foreign Office said the banks being targeted had bankrolled the Russian occupation of Crimea from 2014, but officials warned more was to come as they co-ordinate action with the US and EU.

One said: “What we have announced here is not the full package, it’s a small part of it at the start.”

Another added: “We’ve a much longer list. We’ll be looking at those oligarchs of strategic significance, of interest to the Kremlin, who are complicit by their association with the Kremlin and we will keep going as and when we need to and consider the trigger has been reached.”

A day of escalations came after Mr Putin recognised the two eastern regions in Donbas as independent states.

After chairing an early-morning emergency meeting of the Cobra committee, Mr Johnson accused the Russian president of having “completely torn up international law” and said he is seemingly intent on capturing the capital of Kyiv.

In a sign that the situation could deteriorate even further, Russia said its recognition of independence for the areas in east Ukraine also extends to territories currently held by the forces of the Kyiv government.

Mr Johnson told broadcasters that if Moscow continues on the path to “encircling Kyiv itself, which is what he seems to be proposing to do, capturing the Ukrainian capital” then it is vital his efforts “should not succeed and that Putin should fail”.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that “every indication” is Russia “continues to plan for a full-scale attack” on Ukraine.

But he said “it’s never too late to not attack”, and urged Moscow to “engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts to find a political solution”.