Russia: Sanctions Debate
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Lord Sahota
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Russia: Sanctions
Lord Sahota Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)
My Lords, we will let my noble friend ask his question and then we will go over to the noble Lord, Lord Sahota.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
I agree with my noble friend that we all want—I think I speak for the whole House—to get Russia to pay for its war on Ukraine. At the time of the invasion, the UK sanctioned 129 oligarchs who have a combined net worth of around £145 billion. As I said earlier, we have frozen £18 billion-worth of Russian assets under the regime. The UK has also set up specialist agencies in the NCA and, as I said earlier, we are working with key partners. Legal hurdles need to be addressed, but we are not doing that alone—other partner countries are also looking to allow those assets, now that they are frozen, to be moved across. Ultimately, when the war ends, we can use the money from those assets in the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Lord Sahota (Lab)
My Lords, the Prime Minister signed a joint declaration at G20 which did not condemn the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Is the Government going soft on Russia now?