Boris Johnson is being urged to act quickly to seize assets of Russian oligarchs following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A government source told PA news agency that it could take weeks or even months to build water-tight legal cases to seize the assets of wealthy Russians with links to the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, emergency powers should be put in place to prevent oligarchs’ assets from leaving the UK, peers said.
Only 11 oligarchs have been targeted by the UK government – a figure shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said was “completely unacceptable”.
On BBC Breakfast, Home Office minister Damian Hinds was asked whether the Cabinet was too “scared” to target Russian elites due to the “legal implications”. He replied: “No.”
The security minister added that “there will be more individuals” whose wealth will be targeted – stressing that their “deep pockets” do not make them “immune” from consequences.
But, earlier, Downing Street insisted that sanctioning banks and companies will “throttle off” funding for the Russian assault on Ukraine, and would be more effective than targeting oligarchs.
