UK sanctions Russian-installed leaders of Ukraine's occupied territories

This was reported by The Guardian.

Such restrictions were introduced as part of broader sanctions against the so-called heads of the Russian occupation administrations in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk regions and Crimea, who are now banned from entering the UK and their assets are frozen. 

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that the UK would never recognize Russia's claims to the territory of Ukraine.

In particular, in response to Russia's attempts to use pseudo-elections to legitimize its illegal control over Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, which are part of Ukraine's sovereign territory, the UK has introduced eleven new statuses. This was reported on the website of the UK government.

The UK has also added Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, Russian Central Election Commission Secretary Natalia Budarina, the head of the so-called Kherson Regional State Administration Andriy Aleksiyenko, and the head of the "election commission" in Kherson Marina Zakharova to the sanctions list.

"In the latest futile attempt to normalize Russia’s illegitimate control of sovereign Ukrainian territory, Russia arranged illegal sham “elections” earlier this month. These elections are another violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and of the UN Charter. Earlier this month the UK confirmed, to the UN Security Council, evidence that the results were pre-determined," the statement said.

In total, the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 1,800 individuals and entities under its sanction regime against Russia, more than 1,600 of which have been sanctioned since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This includes 29 banks, which account for more than 90% of the Russian banking sector, and 129 oligarchs, whose total wealth at the time of the invasion was around £145 billion. More than £20 billion of bilateral trade between the UK and Russia (2021 data) is now under full or partial sanctions, and Russian imports to the UK have fallen by 98.2% and UK exports to Russia by 77.4%.

On August 8, the UK government imposed new sanctions on 22 individuals and legal entities that support Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and on three companies that supply electronics for Russian military equipment.