Ministers move to BAN sanctioned Russians from accessing frozen funds to launch ... trends now
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Ministers today announced they are moving to ban sanctioned Russians from accessing their frozen funds to launch legal cases in Britain.
The action follows an outcry over reports earlier this year that a close ally of Vladimir Putin had been assisted by Treasury officials in taking a British journalist to court.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, Treasury minister James Cartlidge told MPs that officials will, from now on, reject applications for the use of frozen funds in order to pay for legal fees related to defamation and similar cases.
He also announced a specific crackdown against those sanctioned individuals from Russia and Belarus.
It comes after a review of existing rules was launched by the Treasury in January.
This followed claims that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the sanctioned boss of the brutal Wagner Group, was helped to lauch legal action against a Bellingcat journalist in the UK.
The action follows claims that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the sanctioned boss of the brutal Wagner Group, was helped to lauch legal action against a journalist in the UK
Mr Prigozhin is a close ally of Vladimir Putin and the Russian President has been aided in his efforts to invade Ukraine by Wagner Group mercenaries
Although Rishi Sunak was in charge of the Treasury at the time, the now PM was said to have had no part in considering whether Mr Prigozhin should be granted permission
In his written statement, Mr Cartlidge outlined 'targeted changes' to the process for issuing
