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 UK threatens sanctions on Kremlin-linked people over Ukraine

  •  UK threatens sanctions on Kremlin-linked people over Ukraine
    The United States, the European Union and Britain have warned Putin against attacking Ukraine.   UK threatens sanctions on Kremlin-linked people over Ukraine
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The United States, the European Union and Britain have warned Putin against attacking Ukraine. 

 

Britain said on Monday it would impose sanctions on companies and people with the closest links to the Kremlin if Russia takes action against Ukraine, drawing a warning from Moscow that it would respond if its businesses were "attacked".

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, London has become the pre-eminent global centre for a vast outflow of money from former Soviet republics.

Opponents of President Vladimir Putin, who has massed troops near Ukraine, have repeatedly called on the West to get tough on Russian money, though oligarchs and Russian officials continue to flaunt their wealth at Europe's most luxurious destinations.

"We are very clear that if Russia takes further action against the Ukraine, then we will further tighten the sanctions regime targeting those businesses and people with the closest links to the Kremlin," Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the threat of sanctions would amount to an attack on Russian businesses. He said such actions would backfire by hurting British companies and warned that Russia would respond.

The United States, the European Union and Britain have warned Putin against attacking Ukraine. 

Russia denies planning to attack Ukraine and is demanding security guarantees including a promise by NATO never to let Kyiv join the alliance. Russian officials say the West is gripped by Russophobia and has no right to lecture Moscow on how to act after NATO's eastward expansion since the Cold War ended.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to meet Monday for the first time on Russia’s troop buildup and threatening actions against Ukraine at the request of the United States, and all key players are expected to square off in public over the possibility of a Russian invasion and its global impact.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia’s actions pose “a clear threat to international peace and security and the U.N. Charter.” Council members “must squarely examine the facts and consider what is at stake for Ukraine, for Russia, for Europe, and for the core obligations and principles of the international order should Russia further invade Ukraine,” she said Thursday in announcing the meeting.

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky responded angrily, tweeting: “I can’t recall another occasion when a SC (Security Council) member proposed to discuss its own baseless allegations and assumptions as a threat to intl (international) order from someone else. Hopefully fellow UNSC members will not support this clear PR stunt shameful for the reputation of UN Security Council.”