The United Kingdom imposed trade sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine

The British government imposed trade sanctions on Russia on Tuesday in response to its invasion of Ukraine, including punitive tariffs on products such as vodka and a ban on exporting luxury goods.

The move, which adds to previous sanctions imposed on Russian companies and billionaires for their ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeks to increase economic pressure on the Russian regime.

It includes a 35 percentage point increase in tariffs imposed on products such as vodka, animal skins and metals such as silver, aluminum, copper and steel among other goods from Russia.

For their part, British companies will not be able to export to that country luxury products including cars, works of art and fashion, the Minister of International Trade said in a statement.

“Our new tariffs will further isolate the Russian economy from world trade, ensuring that it does not benefit from the rules-based international system that it does not respect,” said Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, quoted in the statement.

“These tariffs are in addition to the UK's efforts to prevent Russia's access to international finance, sanction Putin's cronies and exert maximum economic pressure on his regime,” he added.

For its part, the European Union plans to sanction Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea, as part of the new sanctions package coordinated with the G7 against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, diplomatic sources confirmed to Efe.

The decision to sanction the Russian oligarch comes after the Premier League stripped him of his club leader's permission on Saturday after the British Government froze his assets last week, preventing the club from generating revenue from ticket sales, merchandising and player operations.

The inclusion of Abramovich in the new list of sanctioned persons coincides with Portugal's decision to open an investigation to check whether there were irregularities in the granting of the nationality granted to him as a descendant of Sephardic Jews.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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