UK imposes sanctions on Russians in first use of anti-corruption law

Britain imposed sanctions on Monday on 14 Russians in the first use of a new power to fight human rights abuses and corruption abroad.

The new law gives the government the power to penalise those it says are credibly involved in the most serious violations of human rights and corruption. The measures freeze their assets and bar them from visiting Britain.

"Corruption has a corrosive effect as it slows development, drains the wealth of poorer nations and keeps their people trapped in poverty. It poisons the well of democracy," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

The 14 Russians targeted were implicated in what the British government described as a $230 million fraud, the case uncovered by Magnitsky. They include Dmitry Klyuev, identified as then-owner of Russia’s Universal Savings Bank, Reuters reported.