So the EU have identified hundreds of Russian oligarchs and officials to sanction. The UK a fraction – plus we’re giving them a month to get their assets moved!!
It couldn’t be due to all those donations to the Tory Party could it??
So the EU have identified hundreds of Russian oligarchs and officials to sanction. The UK a fraction – plus we’re giving them a month to get their assets moved!!
It couldn’t be due to all those donations to the Tory Party could it??
Always, in all ways, the nasty Tory Party delay, delay, delay, but yet, they tell us sanctions have been imposed. Obviously their actions and their words are out of step. The Tories are scared to pull the plug on Russian money in the U.K: scared of legal disputes with Oligarch lawyers, scared to lose political funding, and scared to lose dirty money investment in the U.K. Given that the Tories lay down with dogs, sooner or later they were going to get flees and get bitten.
DN
They’ve laid down with with wolves and come up with rabies!!
Ha Ha!
This from the Guardian attending a No.10 presser…
‘Here are some of the key points from this afternoon’s Downing Street lobby briefing:
No 10 denied the Foreign Office has been held back from issuing sanctions against Russian oligarchs because officials are struggling to prove reasonable grounds. The PM’s official spokesman said:
I wouldn’t recognise that. We are not being held back from introducing sanctions. We’ve gone further and faster than we ever have done before but we do have laws that we need to abide when it comes to how we apply these sanctions and we are following them. As you would expect we keep under constant review whether or not we can do more to allow us to go even faster.
Downing Street said sanctioning large banks and companies is what will “throttle off funding” for the Russian invasion and is more effective than targeting oligarchs. The spokesman said:
When it comes to individuals it is the case that we need to do the preparatory work, the requisite work, to make sure it is legally sound before introduction. Like I said, we will keep that under review and if there are ways to further speed it up then we will.
I wouldn’t want people to get lost on the fact of just focusing on individuals. Obviously what is important is what puts the most pressure on Putin’s regime.
Our judgment is placing sanctions particularly on large banks and companies… that is what we believe will exert the most pressure on Putin’s regime and will throttle off funding for this illegal war against Ukraine.
Downing Street denied it could take months to prove the grounds to sanction some Russian oligarchs under measures to apply pressure on the Putin regime. The spokesman said:
I don’t recognise that certainly, I think we’ve said we’re bringing sanctions against more individuals including 571 members of the Duma and Federation Council, we’ve been working on some of these sanctions in weeks and you will see more and more individuals added to that list as it grows.
Asked if it could be weeks, he responded:
You will see over the coming days and weeks more and more sanctions come in.
And so we gleam that oligarchs are not on the priority list, but Russian banks are. Delays are inevitable – we’re not held back introducing sanctions, just applying them! -, but the U.K could speed this up, but obviously wont. Laws protecting filthy money are there to protect the rich not to impose restriction.
How come other EU nations are further ahead of the U.K in applying sanctions on Russian money, on Oligarch’s money, and material assets?
Why aren’t the EU questioning the U.K government’s delays?
DN
I bet the phones have been buzzing!!!
And so it begins, the first Tory to start the ball rolling suggesting at the idea of U.K political support for Oligarchs who have recently (since the invasion) spoken out against Putin, irrespective of where their ill-gotten gains have come from, and irrespective of what contribution they may have made to Putin’s murderous regime. If they were that concerned about Putin, and that disgusted by his regime, why not speak up before the invasion?
Whereas Labour former minister Lord Foulkes of Cumnock said:
“But there is one further sanction which has not yet been considered… and that is using the powers we have to remove British citizenship from Putin oligarch’s living in the United Kingdom.”
Lord Ahmad of the nasty Tory Party said:
“We are looking at the full picture. But equally I would stress the point there are many Russians in the United Kingdom who are dual nationals, there are many Russians who don’t have citizenship but who are residing in the UK, there are many Russians in Russia… who are totally and utterly against Mr Putin and his government and it’s important we stand by them as well.”
How different the two approaches are from either side of the political divide!! But isn’t it great to see the Tories standing full-square behind Ukraine in its hours of need! World-leading in fact. Not only is the U.K government deliberately delaying sanctions – have the U.K actually applied any sanctions as yet!? – but now suggesting support, and understanding for Putin’s ring of Oligarchs. (Least we forget, one doesn’t become an Oligarch without Putin’s approval) Always with the nasty party, protect the money, protect the reputations of investors, protect political funding, protect the nasty party. Shameless!
DN
Typical Tories – all mouth and no trousers!! Promise the earth and deliver the opposite!!
Time after time after time, the U.K Tories are woefully out-of-step with U.K public opinion. One might even get the impression that they don’t give a shit about the electorate’s wishes.
This would be a great opportunity for Starmer to get in the Tory faces and publicly rebuke the U.K P.M for his governments failure to act with the same conviction and sense of extreme urgency as other EU nations and U.K businesses have (M&S, Shell, BP, U.K insurance companies etc.) Severe scrutiny of Tory donations and funding must surely be a consideration. The public have a right to know just how involved their government is with Oligarchs, and how long they have been supported by dirty money. All donations – going back years if needed – must be identified and paid back to the Russian people, or better still, used to assist the humanitarian effort in Ukraine. If it breaks the Tories, then so be it, tough shit!
Equally, the U.K electorate now need concrete assurances that dirty money from whatever source will not be accepted by U.K political parties, and that sources of all funding must be transparent. Such a consideration should become law, and breaking the law should be punishable. No more impunity for politicians or governments alike. I’m quite certain if people knew where funding originated from, those with morals and ethical principles may find their political allegiance changes.
DN
Oh for a half-decent opposition!!!!
It’s incredible, seeing as how unpopular this government is, that they are so little behind in the polls. With a decent leader Labour would be thirty points up by now! Time for Andy Burnham??