UK to stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London: Truss

The United Kingdom will stop Russia selling sovereign debt in London in response to its deployment of troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says.

According to Press TV, on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as independent and afterward ordered troops into the Donbas region.

Truss said Wednesday if Putin went further and ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine then sanctions would be escalated.

"We've been very clear that we're going to limit Russian access to British markets," Truss told Sky. "We're going to stop the Russian government with raising sovereign debt in the United Kingdom."

"There will be even more tough sanctions on key oligarchs, on key organizations in Russia, limiting Russia's access to the financial markets, if there is a full scale invasion of Ukraine," Truss said.

Additional legislation would be needed in order to limit sovereign debt sales in London, according to Western officials. Clearing transactions would also be affected.

This comes after US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the US would sanction Russian sovereign debt and Russian elites as well as their family members.

Biden claimed that the sanctions on Russian sovereign debt would cut off the Russian government from Western financing. 

Truss also said on Tuesday the UK was contemplating sanctions for members of the Russian Duma and Federation Council.

Writing in The Times, Liz Truss said, London was willing to introduce “measures to limit Russia’s ability to trade and prohibit a range of high-tech exports, degrading the development of its military industrial base for years”.

Britain on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Gennady Timchenko and two other key Russian business leaders.

ME