Ministers vow to toughen sanctions with emergency laws

Ministers will today push through measures to toughen up sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s allies in the UK. But backbenchers are preparing to rebel over changes to Britain’s sanctions regime. The government will introduce emergency legislation today to make it easier to take action against oligarchs, including seizing their UK properties, following criticism that Britain was acting too slowly. The legislation will give the owners of around 95,000 foreign-owned properties six months to reveal their identities. But opposition parties and some backbench Conservative MPs say the planned legislation does not go far enough. They are urging the government to do more to tackle wealthy allies of Putin who store large amounts of money in London. Tom Tugendhat, a Tory MP and chairman of the foreign affairs committee, and former Brexit secretary David Davis are among the rebels. Meanwhile, ministers are resisting Labour Party calls to force anonymous foreign owners of UK land and property to reveal their identities within 28 days, warning that “decent law-abiding citizens” could be caught up in a crackdown on oligarchs linked to the Kremlin. London mayor Sadiq Khan urged ministers to move immediately to seize assets that can then be sold to fund aid to Ukraine. He said: “London can no longer be a laundromat for oligarchs’ finances. We know there is at least £1.5bn of property in London linked to the Kremlin, along with millions of pounds worth of art, cars, boats and other goods. Ministers must not delay while Ukraine burns.” The UK has sanctioned just 15 oligarchs so far. Michael Gove, the housing secretary, has hit out at Foreign Office officials for thwarting his plans to seize the mansions of oligarchs linked to Putin. The Times (£) The FT (£) and The FT (£) The Guardian