Members of the British House of Commons called on the country’s government to impose sanctions against two Russian billionaires – Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov. Reported by The Times.
As the newspaper notes, British parliamentarians proposed to take such measures because of the situation with Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on January 18 in Moscow. For example, Labor MP Margaret Hodge called on the country’s authorities to support the Russian oppositionist “not in words, but in deeds,” recalling that earlier he himself proposed to Western countries to impose restrictions on a number of Russian oligarchs, who, among other things, own assets in the UK. p>
“He named Abramovich and Usmanov. Both have significant fortunes, property and connections with English football clubs,” Hodge said.
The representative of the Liberal Democrats Leila Moran, in turn, demanded from the British government guarantees that it would consider the possibility of imposing sanctions against any person, regardless of his status and material condition. At the same time, she stressed that the parliament is currently considering “all possible options for further action.”
On October 15, 2020, the European Union imposed sanctions against six Russians and one research institute due to the situation with Navalny. In particular, the director of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Russian president’s internal policy department, Andrei Yarin, and others, fell under the sanctions. Following the EU, the UK imposed restrictions. London has promised to freeze assets and ban the entry of persons allegedly responsible for what happened to the Russian.
Alexey Navalny was transported to Berlin on August 22, 2020. Two days earlier, during the flight from Tomsk to Moscow, he felt unwell, the plane was urgently landed in Omsk. Then the patient was sent to the German clinic “Charite”, where local doctors announced the discovery of a substance from the “Novichok” group in Navalny’s body. On January 17, 2021, he returned to Russia and was detained at Sheremetyevo airport. The next day, a court hearing in Khimki near Moscow arrested him for 30 days.