The wife of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is among 206 people added to the UK sanctions list. The targets also include six family members and close associates of Russian oligarchs. Among the names added to the UK list are 178 people believed to be “supporting the breakaway regions” in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truz said on Wednesday. The Foreign Office has long planned to focus on those behind the Russian-backed so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and Ms Trus said the bombing of a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk action. The sanctions are being coordinated with the European Union, the Foreign Office said. Russia has resumed its military efforts in recent weeks as Russian President Vladimir Putin plans, according to Western intelligence services, to launch an attack in the Donbas region. Foreign Minister Liz Tras announces more sanctions targeting separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine PA wire “After the horrific rocket attacks on civilians in eastern Ukraine, we are now imposing sanctions on those who support the breakaway territories and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people,” he said. “We will continue to target all those who help and incite Putin’s war.” Ms Trous also said the latest package of sanctions would include extending the ban on imports of Russian products. He added: “From tomorrow, we will ban the import of Russian iron and steel, as well as the export of quantum technologies and advanced materials that Putin desperately needs. “We will not rest on our laurels to stop Putin’s war machine in its tracks.” Mrs Lavrova is subject to a travel ban and property freeze. In total, the UK government announcement included sanctions on 206 people. Among those sanctioned was Sergei Kozlov, the self-proclaimed prime minister of the breakaway region of Luhansk. The Foreign Office said Alexander Ananchenko, whom the ministry named as the self-proclaimed prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, had also been punished. Other members of the Russian oligarch family targeted were Pavel Ezubov, Oleg Deripaska’s cousin, and Nigina Zairova, Mikhail Friedmann’s executive assistant. The list also includes Andrey Fursenko, named by the Foreign Ministry as Putin’s aide to President Putin, and Vagit Alekperov, president of Russia’s leading oil company PJSC Lukoil – reportedly worth about 18 18 billion. The Foreign Office said a secondary law would be enacted this week banning the import of steel and iron products and the export of luxury goods.
