UK to stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London: Truss
The United Kingdom will stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London in response to its deployment of troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent and afterward ordered troops into the Donbas region.
Truss said Wednesday if Putin went further and ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine then sanctions would be escalated.
"We've been very clear that we're going to limit Russian access to British markets," Truss told Sky. "We're going to stop the Russian government with raising sovereign debt in the United Kingdom."
"There will be even more tough sanctions on key oligarchs, on key organizations in Russia, limiting Russia's access to the financial markets, if there is a full scale invasion of Ukraine," Truss said.
Additional legislation would be needed in order to limit sovereign debt sales in London, according to Western officials. Clearing transactions would also be affected.
This comes after US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the US would sanction Russian sovereign debt and Russian elites as well as their family members.
Biden claimed that the sanctions on Russian sovereign debt would cut off the Russian government from Western financing.
Truss also said on Tuesday the UK was contemplating sanctions for members of the Russian Duma and Federation Council.
Writing in The Times, Liz Truss said, London was willing to introduce “measures to limit Russia’s ability to trade and prohibit a range of high-tech exports, degrading the development of its military industrial base for years”.
Britain on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Gennady Timchenko and two other key Russian business leaders.
Putin on Monday signed a decree, instructing Russia's Defense Ministry to deploy peacekeeping troops to Donetsk and Lugansk.
The two regions were turned into self-proclaimed republics by its ethnic Russian residents in 2014, which triggered a violent conflict between government forces and the secessionists.
The conflict worsened following a wave of protests in Ukraine that led to the overthrow of a democratically-elected pro-Russia government, which was later replaced with a pro-West administration.
Putin had earlier warned that the US was deliberately designing a scenario to lure Russia into a war over Ukraine.
Protesters try to stop UK police from removing migrants for Rwanda transfer
Britain: Israeli settlements in West Bank hinder Palestinian statehood
Thousands call on UK government to stop arming Israel
ICC slams threats after broaching arrest warrants for Israeli leaders
Russia warns West on ‘dangerous’ escalation of tensions in Ukraine war
Do not underestimate Hezbollah’s ability to harm Israel: Senior official
Canada nabs three Indians over assassination of Sikh leader
May 3: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
VIDEO | Western military equipment captured in Ukraine displayed in Moscow
IRGC Ground Force captures main sponsors of Jaish al-Adl terror group
VIDEO | Press TV’s news headline
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
