Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government plans to impose sanctions for gross human rights violations under the (a) Criminal Finances Act 2017 and (b) Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK currently implements sanctions through the EU and will continue to do so until we leave. The Criminal Finances Act 2017 introduced a provision which allows property obtained as a result of gross human rights abuse to be subject to the civil recovery provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The use of this power is for the operational agencies to decide.
Although not yet commenced, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 will allow us to take a range of actions against those suspected of gross human rights violations, which includes asset-freezes and travel bans. The use of this power is again for the operational agencies to decide.
We are currently in the process of establishing procedures and frameworks to adopt sanctions under the Sanctions Act. While it is therefore too early to make decisions about specific individual listings, the Prime Minister has made clear that we are looking to carry over all EU sanctions in force at the time of our departure from the EU.
The names of individuals sanctioned by the UK under the Act, including those sanctioned because of gross human rights violations, will be published on the appropriate government website (gov.uk).
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the list of people sanctioned under the (a) Criminal Finances Act 2017 and (b) Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 will include (i) Aleksey Vasilyevich Anichin, former Deputy Interior Minister, (ii) Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, former First Deputy Prosecutor General, (iii) Aleksey Droganov, Interior Ministry employee, (iv) Alexandra Viktorovna Gaus, prison doctor, (v) Stanislav Evgenievich Gordievsky, official, investigative committee, Interior Ministry, (vi) Victor Yakovlevich Grin, Deputy Prosecutor General, (vii) Pavel Karpov, investigator, Interior Ministry, (viii) Yelena Khimina, tax official, (ix) Vyacheslav Georgievich Khlebnikov, businessman, (x) Dmitry Vladislavovich Klyuev, owner, Universal Savings Bank, (xi) Dmitriy Komnov, head of the Butyrka Detention Centre, (xii) Dmitry Borisovch Kratov, former deputy head, Butyrka prison, (xiii) Andrei Alexandrovich Krechetov, investigator, Interior Ministry, (xiv) Aleksey Krivoruchko, judge, (xv) Artem Kuznetsov, officer, Interior Ministry, (xvi) Larisa Antolievna Litvinova, prison doctor, (xvii) Oleg Logunov, deputy head, Interior Ministry investigation committee, (xviii) Viktor Aleksandrovich Marklov, businessman, (xix) Andrey Pechegin, official responsible for oversight, Interior Ministry, (xx) Gennady Nikolaevich Plaksin, businessman, (xxi) Sergei Podoprigorov, judge, (xxii) Ivan Pavlovitch Prokopenko, prison officer, (xxiii) Oleg Silchenko, officer, Interior Ministry, (xxiv) Yelena Stashina, judge, (xxv) Vladlen Yurievich Stepanov, company director, (xxvi) Olga Stepanova, head of Moscow tax office No. 28, (xxvii) Fikret Tagiyev, head of the Matrosskaya Tishina Detention Centre, (xxviii) Dmitri Tolchinskiy, employee, Interior Ministry, (xxix) Svetlana Ukhnalyova, judge and (xxx) Natalya Vinogradova, officer, Interior Ministry.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK currently implements sanctions through the EU and will continue to do so until we leave. Although not yet commenced, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 will allow us to take a range of actions against those suspected of gross human rights violations, which include (but are not limited to) asset-freezes and travel bans.
We are currently in the process of establishing procedures and frameworks to adopt sanctions under the Act. While it is too early to make decisions about specific individual listings, the Prime Minister has made it clear that we are looking to carry over all EU sanctions in force at the time of our departure from the EU.
The names of individuals sanctioned by the UK under the Act, including those sanctioned because of gross human rights violations, will be published on the appropriate government website.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government plans to impose sanctions for gross human rights violations under the (a) Criminal Finances Act 2017 and (b) Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK currently implements sanctions through the EU and will continue to do so until we leave. The Criminal Finances Act 2017 introduced a provision which allows property obtained as a result of gross human rights abuse to be subject to the civil recovery provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The use of this power is for the operational agencies to decide.
Although not yet commenced, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 will allow us to take a range of actions against those suspected of gross human rights violations, which includes asset-freezes and travel bans. The use of this power is again for the operational agencies to decide.
We are currently in the process of establishing procedures and frameworks to adopt sanctions under the Sanctions Act. While it is therefore too early to make decisions about specific individual listings, the Prime Minister has made clear that we are looking to carry over all EU sanctions in force at the time of our departure from the EU.
The names of individuals sanctioned by the UK under the Act, including those sanctioned because of gross human rights violations, will be published on the appropriate government website (gov.uk).
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the timetable is for the commencement and conclusion of maintenance to the Wideawake Airfield on Ascension Island; and what the reasons are for that repair not having begun.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The two mile runway at Wideawake Airfield requires a full-depth resurfacing. The runway is owned and operated by the US Air Force under the Bahamas Agreement. Therefore, they are responsible for the design, management and delivery of the resurfacing project. The design phase is already underway but Ascension's isolated location and the complexity of these repairs mean works are not expected to be completed until 2020.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that UN Security Council Resolutions 2098 and 2147 are implemented in full and that effective steps are taken to demobilise and disband the FDLR from North and South Kivu; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are committed to supporting efforts to build greater stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes. Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the UN, MONUSCO mission leadership and Ministers from the DRC, Rwanda and other countries in the region to emphasise the importance of full implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions 2098 and 2147.
We continue to believe that the threat posed by the FDLR to civilians and the wider security of the region must be comprehensively tackled. As the 2 January deadline for voluntary disarmament has now passed and full surrender has not materialised, we believe that military action must restart against the FDLR as soon as possible. The UNSC Presidential Statement of 8 January is clear about this and we are lobbying regional leaders to deliver on the action they have promised.