UK sanctions ‘friends’ supporting Putin’s ‘luxury lifestyle’

Bloomberg

The UK ramped up its sanctions on Russia, targeting friends and family members it said were helping to prop up President Vladimir Putin’s “luxury lifestyle.”
Individuals sanctioned include Putin’s former wife, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, and Alina Kabaeva, a former gymnast and Chair of the Board of the National Media Group who is alleged to have a close relationship with the Russian leader, according to a Foreign Office statement. Relatives targeted by the new measures include Igor Putin, Mikhail Putin, Roman Putin and Mikhail Shelomov.
“We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putin’s luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement.
“We will keep going with sanctions on all those aiding and abetting Putin’s aggression until Ukraine prevails.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has steadily ratcheted up its sanctions on Russia and wealthy and influential Russians since the country invaded Ukraine in February. More than 1,000 individuals and 100 companies and other entities have been targeted by the measures.
The UK also added to the list Alexander Plekhov and Viktor Khmarin, who it described as “friends” of Putin.
Mikhail Klishin, an executive at Bank Rossiya, Kabaeva’s grandmother, Anna Zatseplina, Gelendzhik Seaport LLC General Director Vladimir Kolbin and
Gazfond President Yuri Shamalov were also sanctioned.