The UK government expanded its anti-Russian sanctions blacklisting the VGTRK broadcaster and certain journalists from Russia for covering the events in Ukraine, according to a statement by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office made public on Wednesday.
The restrictive measures which involve a ban on entering the country and the freezing of bank accounts if such are discovered were imposed on journalist Nailya Asker-Zade, war correspondents Yevgeny Poddubny, Alexander Kots, Dmitry Steshin, TV anchor Mikhail Leontyev, presidential aide and chairman of the board of directors of Channel One Maxim Oreshkin.
Additionally, restrictive measures were introduced against Russian truck producer Kamaz, CEO of the Otkritie Bank Mikhail Zadornov and Sovcombank CEO Dmitry Gusev. The British government also stressed that within the framework of the new restrictions, the Russian companies would lose the access to the UK’s management consulting, accounting and PR services.
"Our professional services exports are extraordinarily valuable to many countries, which is exactly why we’re locking Russia out. By restricting Russia’s access to our world-class management consultants, accountants and PR firms, we’re ratcheting up economic pressure on the Kremlin to change course," Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said. The statement noted that the UK’s accountancy, management consultancy, and PR services make up 10% of Russian imports in these sectors
The UK Foreign Office also blacklisted Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolay Pankov, Irish journalist Bryan MacDonald who works for RT and Director of the Victory Museum Alexander Shkolnik. The sanctions were also imposed on the InfoRos news agency and the Strategic Culture Foundation and SouthFront internet resources.
