Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called on the west to impose travel bans on dozens more oligarchs and officials loyal to president Vladimir Putin — including Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich— and members of their families.
“You can draw up a blacklist of about 1,000 people who will no longer be allowed into western countries, and you can do it quietly, without any big announcement,” Mr Navalny told the Financial Times. “But you have to hit the propagandists of war, the ones who finance the war, the real party of war.”
His comments reflect growing frustration among the Russian opposition and some western governments at the perceived failure of sanctions to force a change in the Kremlin’s policies on Ukraine. The US and EU have imposed curbs on individuals closely connected to the Putin regime and involved in the annexation of Crimea and the fighting in eastern Ukraine. They have also restricted access to western financing for big state-controlled banks and oil companies.