Britain says it has frozen 18 billion pounds worth of Russian assets

The British government said on Thursday that it had frozen assets together worth 18 billion pounds ($20.5 billion) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes.

"We have imposed the most severe sanctions ever on Russia and it is crippling their war machine," said Andrew Griffith, a junior government minister in the Treasury. "Our message is clear: we will not allow Putin to succeed in this brutal war."