Abramovich, Deripaksa Sanctioned In Ramp-Up Against Russian Oligarchs

The UK gov't has confirmed that Russian oligarchs including Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaksa, who holds major stakes in En+ Group, have been hit with sanctions including asset freezes, travel bans, and transport sanctions.

• Full UK gov't statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/abramovich-and-...
• As well as Abramovich and Deripaska, the following individuals have been hit by sanctions: Igor Sechin (Chief Exec of Rosneft), Andrey Kostin (Chairman of VTB), Alexei Miller (CEO of Gazprom), Nikolai Tokarev (president of Transneft), Dmitri Lebedev (Chairman of the Board of Bank Rossiya).
• Statement also gives details of the upcoming Economic Crime Bill, "coming into force next week [the bill] will also significantly simplify the process of imposing sanctions, allow the UK to more easily sanction individuals, stop oligarchs threatening the UK with multi-million pound lawsuits for damages at the taxpayer’s expense and also allow the UK to mirror allies’ designations."
• The impact of sanctions on Russian oligarchs around the world is being viewed closely, given the outsized influence many are seen to have on the Russian political leadership. Remains unclear whether any of the sanctioned individuals would have any personal influence on Putin's decision making.