UK sanctions Russian generals who it says have ‘blood on their hands’

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) – Britain on Thursday announced 26 new sanctions targeting Russian military generals responsible for what it said were atrocities in Ukraine, as well as individuals and companies supporting the Russian armed forces.

“Today’s new wave of sanctions hits generals and defense contractors with blood on their hands,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

Britain, which has sought to play a central role in the West’s response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, has already imposed hundreds of sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans. travel to prominent Russian billionaires and politicians, including President Vladimir Putin.

The latest sanctions included an asset freeze and travel ban for Azatbek Omurbekov, a Russian army commander who the British government says was involved in the “Bucha massacre”.

Ukraine and most major Western countries accused Russia of war crimes in Bucha during the weeks the northern city was under Russian occupation. Photos of dead civilians that emerged after Russian forces withdrew sparked an international outcry and led to new sanctions against Russia by the United States, Britain and the European Union.

Russia has denied claims it killed civilians in Bucha, calling the images and photographs of corpses a “staged” kyiv.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it concluded that Russian attacks on Ukrainian government buildings, schools and hospitals since March 10 were intentional based on, among other things, the types of civilian targets hit, the frequency of strikes and the volume of ammunition used.

Earlier in the week, Ukraine said the second phase of the war had begun with the “battle of Donbass” in the east of the country, after it failed to capture the capital kyiv and was forced to withdraw from the north. Read more

Russia calls its incursion a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine. kyiv and its Western allies reject this as a false pretext for an illegal war of aggression.

Britain said its new sanctions also target Kalashnikov Concern, a manufacturer of military equipment whose weapons have been used by the Russian military in Ukraine; Military Industrial Company, a major supplier of arms and military equipment to Russia; and GTLK, Russia’s largest leasing company.

($1 = 0.7665 pounds)

Reporting by Muvija M, editing by William James and Mark Heinrich

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