Britain said it has frozen the funds of the individuals and banks for being "involved in destabilizing Ukraine," where servicemen are pictured conducting live-fire exercises. (SERGEY BOBOK/AFP via Getty Images)
The updated sanctions list was updated to include Bank Rossiya, Black Sea Bank for Development and Reconstruction, Joint Stock Company Genbank, IS Bank and Promsvyazbank. Three prominent businessmen known to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin — Gennadiy Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg — are also subject to an asset freeze and banned from travel to the U.K.
U.K. companies must check whether they have any accounts or hold funds for the banks or individuals and freeze them.
"Failure to comply with financial sanctions legislation or to seek to circumvent its provisions is a criminal offense," according to the financial sanctions notice.
Timchenko is a major shareholder in Bank Rossiya. The bank is a stakeholder in the National Media Group, which supports Russian policy that is destabilizing Ukraine, according to the U.K.'s sanctions list.
HM Treasury announced the sanctions after Putin ordered Russian forces into eastern Ukraine on Monday after they recognized two separatist regions as independent, ignoring warnings of sanctions issued by western governments.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in Parliament on Tuesday that the sanctions come from new powers recently granted to the government by lawmakers. The decision was made under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
"This is a first barrage of what we are prepared to do, and we hold further sanctions in readiness to be deployed alongside the United States and the European Union if the situation escalates," Johnson said.
Promsvyazbank, which is state-owned, provides financial services that could contribute to destabilizing Ukraine, according to the government's sanction lists. The other three lenders operate in Crimea, a region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the banks have bankrolled the earlier Russian occupation of Crimea. She added that Gennadiy Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg are oligarchs at the heart of Putin's inner circle.
"We are prepared to go much further if Russia does not pull back from the brink," Truss said. "We will curtail the ability of the Russian state and Russian companies to raise funds in our markets, prohibit a range of high-tech exports, and further isolate Russian banks from the global economy."
The European Union's foreign affairs ministers were due to meet later Tuesday to discuss a package of EU sanctions. The package is proposed to target individuals who were involved in the "illegal decision" to enter into Ukraine and targets banks that finance the Russian military, the European Commission said.
The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre said in January that it was investigating reports of malicious online incidents in Ukraine after Russian troops amassed along the country's border.
-This article has been updated to include comments from U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
--Editing by Ed Harris.
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