Britain imposes sanctions on Russians, including top investigator, Saudis over rights

Britain imposed sanctions on 25 Russians, including its top investigator, and 20 Saudis on Monday, as part of post-Brexit measures foreign minister Dominic Raab said were aimed at stopping the laundering of "blood money in this country". After leaving the European Union in January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to forge a new independent role for Britain in foreign and trade affairs, and this was the first time London could impose asset freezes and visa bans independently.

Britain imposed sanctions on 25 Russians, including its top investigator, and 20 Saudis on Monday, as part of post-Brexit measures foreign minister Dominic Raab said were aimed at stopping the laundering of "blood money in this country".

After leaving the European Union in January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to forge a new independent role for Britain in foreign and trade affairs, and this was the first time London could impose asset freezes and visa bans independently. Raab has pressed for a tough sanctions regime and set out the first names in parliament, including Russian nationals Britain says were involved in the mistreatment and death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and Saudis held to be involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"If you're a kleptocrat or an organised criminal, you will not be able to launder your blood money in this country," Raab told parliament. "Today this government ... sends a very clear message on behalf of the British people that those with blood on their hands, the thugs and despots, the henchmen and dictators, will not be free to waltz into this country to buy up property on the King's Road, to do their Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge, or frankly to siphon dirty money through British banks or other financial institutions."

For Russia, the biggest name on the list is Alexander Bastrykin, the country's top investigator whose Investigative Committee reports directly to President Vladimir Putin. He was also blacklisted by the United States in 2017 in sanctions tied to the Magnitsky Act for human rights abuses.

The United States passed the act in 2012 under which it has imposed visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to the death of Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer arrested in 2008 after alleging that Russian officials were involved in large-scale tax fraud. Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after complaining of mistreatment.

Raab announced sanctions on 20 Saudi nationals, who Britain says were involved in the death of Khashoggi, following other western countries who have put sanctions on officials there. Bill Browder, a client of Magnitsky, who has led a campaign to expose corruption and punish Russian officials whom he blames for the lawyer's death, expressed hope the act would be used "robustly and regularly".

"The UK has an outsized role in the world because this is where everyone from the developed world wants to buy property, keep their families safe and store their money," he said. "By prohibiting dictators, torturers and murderers from coming here and enjoying our rule of law, it will have a very big impact."