The United Kingdom has joined global forces in their political stance against Russia. Boris Johnson as said, “Punishing sanctions are meaningless until properly implemented, and these changes will allow us to pursue Putin’s allies in the UK with the full backing of the law, beyond doubt or legal challenge.”
However, Boris Johnson has been criticized by other global leaders for the UK’s slow reaction in imposing sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
One of the attempts to counter this accusation is the Economic Crime Bill, a new emergency legislation that MPs will vote on which will help them to register overseas ownership of property in the UK. The aim is to investigate “unexplained wealth” to identify what belongs to Russian oligarchs.
Johnson will meet with including Mark Rutte from the Netherlands and Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada to discuss a united international front against Russia following the invasion of the Ukraine.
Their meet will be a full week of “focused engagement” at Number 10 Downing Street according to Boris Johnson, so that they can discuss how they can be united on their efforts against Vladimir Putin the President of Russia.
Boris Johnson has also set aside £76 million as a grant to provide funding to the Ukrainian government to help in terms of their economy. The money is intended to be used for keeping essential services running, and to cover pensions, welfare support and to pay the salaries of those in the public sector.
Amendments to the Economic Crime Bill will be proposed by Liz Truss foreign secretary which will allow ministers to act faster by making it easier to designated oligarchs by lowering the legal requirements to do so.
Even with these new changes the Labour parties have accused the Conservatives of giving the oligarchs a “get out of London free” card by acting too slowly on getting this new register set up to identify any property linked to Putin allowing them time to flee.
Labour party’s shadow secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said,“It’s not good enough that the government want to give Putin’s cronies months to sell up and escape sanctions. The invasion of Ukraine and continued Russian aggression demands action now, not in six months’ time.
“The Conservatives want to give Putin’s pals a ‘get out of London free’ card while Labour has been taking the action needed to tighten the net now on those profiting from misery in Ukraine.”
In response to this the Foreign Office are insisting this new move will, “allow the government to move faster and harder when sanctioning oligarchs and businesses associated with the Russian government” implying they are working as fast as they possibly can.
Boris Johnson has also made a statement claiming that Western nations failed to anticipate the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia as they have, “failed to learn the lessons of Russian behavior“ and the actions of Vladimir Putin.Johnson has also convened a dark message to the press and world leaders saying, “we need to prepare now for even darker days ahead.”