Britain is “prepared to suffer economic sacrifices” to support Ukraine in its effort to resist Russian aggression, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said.
Addressing the House of Commons on Feb. 28, Truss said that all Russian banks will be hit with a full asset freeze within days as she announced new powers to limit them from clearing payments in sterling, which will initially target the nation’s largest bank, Sberbank.
She said the UK will continue working through its “hit list” of Russian oligarchs, focusing on “their houses, their yachts, and every aspect of their lives.”
The government will also introduce the Economic Crime Bill, which she said is “all about flushing the oligarchs’ dirty money out of the United Kingdom.”
Truss said the war could last “months and years” as she prepared the British public for economic hardship as a result of the sanctions.
“The UK and our allies will have to undergo some economic hardship as a result of sanctions. But our hardships are nothing compared to those endured by the people of Ukraine,” she said.
“This is a struggle for Ukraine’s freedom and self-determination, but it is also a struggle for freedom and democracy everywhere, and for the survival of a Europe whole and free,” she added.
Truss said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “must lose,” as his “premeditated invasion, in violation of international law and multiple international commitments, cannot succeed.”
She told Ukrainians, “We are with you.”
“In Britain and around the world, we are prepared to suffer economic sacrifices to support you,” she said. “However long it takes, we will not rest until Ukraine’s sovereignty is restored.”
With Western sanctions biting, the Russian central bank was forced to sharply raise its key interest rate to save the rouble from collapse.
At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Putin had “underestimated Western unity and the strength of the sanctions his action could lead to.”
He said: “It is becoming clearer with each day that Putin had made a colossal mistake believing that the guns of his tanks would be garlanded with roses when instead the Ukrainian people had put up a fierce resistance in defence of their homeland.”
Johnson will continue his diplomatic push on Tuesday by travelling to Poland and Estonia for meetings with his counterparts and NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.
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