UK UNVEILS SANCTIONS VS RUSSIANS, SAUDIS

Britain on Monday announced sanctions against dozens of officials from Russia and Saudi Arabia who are accused of international human rights violations, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported on July 7, 2020.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab listed 47 individuals subject to sanctions including the freezing of their assets and a ban on entry to Britain, saying they were involved in "some of the worst human rights abuses in recent memory."

"This is a demonstration of global Britain's commitment to acting as a force for good in the world," Raab said. "We will defend media freedoms, protect freedom of religion and, with the measures we are announcing and enacting today, hold to account the perpetrators of the worst human rights abuses," he told parliament.

Those subject to Britain's new Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations, which are similar to the US Magnitsky Act, include 25 Russians and 20 Saudi citizens. "The first designations will cover those individuals involved in the torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who disclosed the biggest known tax fraud in Russian history," Raab said. Britain has developed its sanctions independently of the European Union (EU), after it formally left the bloc in January, but the government said it would continue to cooperate with UN and EU multilateral sanctions regimes. Raab said British officials would work closely with the United States but also "strongly support efforts to bring an EU human rights sanctions regime into effect."