Russian banks targeted in fresh wave of UK sanctions following Ukraine invasion

Russian boats have been blocked from UK ports and legislation will be put before Parliament today making it more difficult for foreign criminals to use British property to launder their money, as Ministers seek to punish the Russian regime.

Hundreds of Ukrainians are now reported to have died since the invasion began.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson said that Putin had made a “colossal mistake” by sending troops into the neighbouring country, having underestimated the resistance they would face from the Ukrainian people.

Mr Johnson is today visiting Poland and Estonia to demonstrate the UK’s support and he will join NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to meet British troops on the frontline of Russian aggression in Tapa, Estonia.

He said: “We have shared values that are more important than ever to protect, as the humanitarian situation gets worse. Alongside all our international allies the UK will continue to bring maximum pressure to bear on Putin’s regime to ensure he feels the consequences of his actions in Ukraine. We speak with one voice when we say, Putin must fail.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Parliament yesterday that sanctions being introduced could mean “some economic hardship” for the British people but vowed to Ukraine that the UK would “suffer economic sacrifices to support you, however long it takes”.

Addressing MPs, she said all Russian banks would be hit with a full asset freeze within days as she announced new powers to limit them from clearing payments in sterling, which will initially target the nation’s largest bank, Sberbank.

The move is designed to stop three million Russian companies from accessing any foreign investment from the UK.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng also came down hard and announced a selection of new measures putting “criminals on notice and sending a clear message that the UK will not tolerate their corruption here”.

As well as announcing a white paper on corporate transparency, he promised that legislation would be introduced today which would “accelerate other measures, which will make an immediate, dissuasive effect on dirty money and its purveyors from Russia and elsewhere”.

Elsewhere, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps asked all UK ports to deny access to Russian flagged, registered or operated vessels, such as one which is reported to have been heading to in Hull in recent days.

He promised that prohibiting legislation would follow and “made clear that these vessels are not welcome here”.

“From this point onwards, UK ports are asked not to provide access to any ship which they have reason to believe is: Owned, controlled, chartered, or operated by any person connected with Russia, or owned, controlled, chartered or operated by designated persons flying the Russian flag registered in Russia,” he wrote.

Kingston upon Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson told the House of Commons there had been a “huge amount of local opposition” to a Russian-owned, Russian-crewed vessel which was heading from Inverness to docks on the Humber on Sunday.

Dame Diana asked when sanctions would be in place to stop that happening, and Ms Truss told her: “The local opposition is right and we are working as fast as we can to deal with this issue.”

In the sporting world, footballing bodies Fifa and UEFA announced that Russia would be suspended from all competitions immediately, the latest in a long-line of sporting and cultural bodies to turn their back on Putin’s regime.

Yesterday air raid sirens were heard again in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, with residents forced back into shelters as night fell.

The country’s second largest city Kharkiv also came under heavy shelling, with residential apartment buildings among those areas facing the brunt of the blasts.