War in Ukraine: UK unveils new Russia sanctions as PM aims at gold reserveson March 24, 2022 at 10:51 am

The West should consider measures to stop Russia using its gold reserves, the prime minister has said.

Boris Johnson’s comments came as the UK announced sanctions on 65 more groups and individuals, including a private military firm and a major Russian bank.

Speaking ahead of a Nato summit, the PM said the UK and the West must “tighten the economic vice” on Vladimir Putin.

He said Russia crossed “red lines” by targeting Ukrainian civilians and tough steps now could help shorten the war.

In addition to the new raft of financial sanctions, the UK government has announced plans to send 6,000 more missiles to Ukraine.

Leaders from Nato, the EU, and the G7 are holding emergency meetings in Brussels to discuss the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

The Nato summit is expected to approve the formation of four new battlegroups in eastern Europe and will also hear an address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Mr Johnson said that, by deliberately bombing civilians centres, Putin had “already crossed the red line into barbarism”.

“We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to increase our support,” he said.

“We’ve got to tighten the economic vice around Putin, sanctioning more people today, as we are, sanctioning the Wagner Group, looking at what we can do to stop Putin using his gold reserves.”

The Wagner Group, a private military firm thought to function as an arms-length unit of the Russian military, was among the 65 entities hit by new sanctions announced by the UK government on Thursday.

Also targeted were Gazprombank, the country’s third-largest bank and one of the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas, and the state-run shipping firm Sovcomflot.

In Brussels, Mr Johnson is expected to urge other countries to step up their military support to Ukraine.

The summit comes after the government announced it would be providing an additional 6,000 anti-tank and other missiles.

The UK has already sent 4,000 anti-tank weapons, but will now send another 3,000, plus a similar number of what Downing Street described as “high explosive missiles”.

The prime minister will also set out plans to offer more help to Ukraine with intelligence and longer-range combat.

Ukrainian officials indicated this week the country’s armed forces currently have the equipment they needed to stop tanks at short range, but needed more to help to do the same over longer distances.

The UK will also send an additional £25m in aid to help Ukraine pay the salaries of its armed forces.