Britain has sanctioned a Russian General known as “the butcher of Mariupol” in the latest round of restrictions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the Chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre, where Russian military operations are planned and controlled, the UK Foreign Office said.
It accused him of “using reprehensible tactics, including shelling civilian centres in both Aleppo in 2015-16 and now in Mariupol - where atrocities are being perpetuated against Ukrainian people”.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also announced 14 new sanctions on Russian ”propagandists and state media” who she claimed were spreading “lies and deceit” about Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
She said: “This latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin’s fake news and narratives. We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.”
Other names added to the sanctions list include propagandist Sergey Brilev and Kremlin funded TV-Novosti, which owns the RT news channel.
Aleksandr Zharov, chief executive of Gazprom-Media, Alexey Nikolov the managing director of RT and Anton Anisimov, the head of Sputnik International Broadcasting were also sanctioned.
Downing Street said the latest sanctions were a sign that “we want to continue to further ratchet up the pressure” on Vladimir Putin’s regime.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We know that countries can adapt to sanctions over time so it’s right that we keep moving forwards on this.
“It’s equally right to to place sanctions on those who are are seeking to misinform people at a mass scale and that’s who the sanctions are targeted at today – famous TV anchors on state-owned TV who push forward the falsehoods that are misleading some of the Russian people into not understanding the situation in Ukraine and some of the wanton destruction and killing of civilians that we’re seeing.”
Asked whether the UK believes colonel-general Mikhail Mizintsev- “the butcher of Mariupol” – was guilty of war crimes, the spokesman said: “I think no one can doubt in looking at what’s happening in Mariupol there, on the face of it, appears to be evidence of war crimes."
“Formally, that is not a distinction that we can rule on. But clearly, no one can be in any doubt by looking at the situation that it is a horrific thing.”
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