British leader orders asset freeze for all Russian banks

By RAF CASERT and FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to hit Russia hard for its aggression in Ukraine and ordered an asset freeze against all main Russian banks. That included VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank. Johnson said his government would aim to cut off Russia from the U.K. financial sector by prohibiting all major Russian companies from raising finance on U.K. markets and the Russian state from raising sovereign debt in the U.K. He also announced bans on a wide range of high-tech exports to Russia such as semiconductors and to prohibit the nation’s flagship airline, Aeroflot, from landing at U.K. airports.