US, EU, Britain Announce Sanctions Against Russian President

The United States announced Friday that it would freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, following similar steps taken by the European Union and Britain, as nations around the world sought to tighten sanctions against Russia’s government over its invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced the action after EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels unanimously agreed to freeze the property and bank accounts of the top Russian officials.

Britain’s government took the same action Friday, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss writing on Twitter, “We will not stop inflicting economic pain on the Kremlin until Ukrainian sovereignty is restored.”

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the sanctions against Putin and Lavrov reflected the West’s “absolute impotence” in foreign policy, according to the RIA news agency.

World leaders are rarely the target of direct sanctions. The only other leaders currently under EU sanctions are Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Agence France-Presse.

FILE – Alexander Schallenberg addresses a press conference at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna, Oct. 11, 2021.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said the move was “a unique step in history” toward a country that has a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, but said it showed how united EU countries were in countering Russia’s actions.

The EU sanctions against Putin and Lavrov are part of a broader sanctions package that targets Russian banks, oil refineries and the Russian defense industry.

EU leaders agreed, however, it was premature to impose a travel ban on Putin and Lavrov because negotiating channels need to be kept open.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Friday for nations to cut Russia off from the SWIFT international bank transfer system “to inflict maximum pain.”

Ukraine has lobbied for a SWIFT ban on Russia, urging Europe to act more forcefully in imposing sanctions against Moscow. However, some European nations, including Germany, are hesitant to take that step.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that the package of banking sanctions the EU has passed would hit Putin’s government harder than excluding Russia from the SWIFT payments system.

“The sword that looks hardest isn’t always the cleverest one,” she said, adding, “the sharper sword at the moment is listing banks.”

FILE – Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn speaks with reporters during arrivals for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the Brdo Congress Center in Kranj, Slovenia, Sept. 2, 2021.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said, “The debate about SWIFT is not off the table. It will continue.”

In response to the sanctions, Russia has taken its own measures, including banning British flights over its territory, after Britain imposed a similar ban on Aeroflot flights.

The United States and several allies had imposed a first tranche of sanctions Tuesday, after Putin declared the disputed eastern Ukraine regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states, much as he appropriated Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Biden added another round of sanctions on Russia on Thursday, hours after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, declaring at the White House after meeting virtually with leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations and NATO that “Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

Biden said those U.S. sanctions, which target Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors and include export controls, would “squeeze Russia’s access to finance and technology for strategic sectors of its economy and degrade its industrial capacity for years to come.”

Effects on markets

NATO allies, including Britain and the European Union, also imposed more sanctions Thursday, and the effects were felt almost immediately when global security prices plunged and commodity prices surged. Biden acknowledged that Americans would see higher gasoline prices.

More than half of all Americans, 52%, viewed the Russia-Ukraine conflict before Russia’s invasion “as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests,” a significant increase from 2015, when 44% thought it was a threat after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, according to a poll released Friday by Gallup.

The poll was conducted from February 1-17 before the Russian government recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and deployed troops to those areas.

As in 2015, roughly half of Democrats and Republicans said they were likely to see the conflict as a critical threat to U.S. vital interests.

Also Friday, an International Criminal Court prosecutor warned that the court might investigate whether Russia has committed any war crimes in its invasion of Ukraine.

“I remind all sides conducting hostilities on the territory of Ukraine that my office may exercise its jurisdiction and investigate any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime committed within Ukraine,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said Friday in a statement.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

Britain to Allow More Hong Kongers to Settle Under Lifeboat Plan

BANGKOK — 

The British government has decided to expand a program allowing some Hong Kong residents to settle in the U.K., providing a potential lifeboat for thousands of young people seeking to escape increasingly repressive Chinese rule in the former British colony.

The British Nationals Overseas, or BNO, plan that gives millions of Hong Kong residents the chance of British citizenship, was launched 13 months ago. The move came after the Chinese government imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, which critics say has restricted the city’s freedoms.

Previously, only Hong Kong residents born before 1997 — when the city was handed back to China from Britain — were eligible to apply for citizenship through the plan.

But following a parliamentary meeting Thursday, British Immigration Minister Kevin Foster outlined in a written statement the changes, which are expected to go into effect in October.

“It is right and important to address this, so the Government has made the decision to enable individuals aged 18 or over who were born on or after 1 July 1997 and who have at least one BN(O) parent to apply to the route independently of their BN(O) parent,” part of the statement read.

Approximately 5.4 million residents were eligible for the BNO plan prior to Thursday’s amendment, with more than 100,000 applications received since January last year. Successful applicants can work and study in Britain for up to five years, after which they can apply for citizenship.

Hong Kong

But a campaign backed by senior British politicians and the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, urged British lawmakers to open the plan to Hong Kong’s younger residents.

Britain-based Hong Kong Watch, a nonprofit organization monitoring human rights and freedoms, released a statement welcoming the news.

“We are delighted that the Government has taken the bold and moral step to expand the BNO Visa for those brave young Hong Kongers who are not currently covered by the scheme.”

Benedict Rogers, Hong Kong Watch chief executive, praised the move.

“This is a very significant development, which will provide a lifeline to many young Hong Kongers whose only option until now was applying for asylum. It sends a clear message that the U.K. will honor its responsibilities to Hong Kongers and that Hong Kongers are very welcome in the U.K.,” he told VOA.

VOA has contacted the Hong Kong chief executive’s office for comment but has yet to receive a response.

In 2019, Hong Kong saw widespread anti-government protests that sometimes turned violent as demonstrators opposed a controversial extradition bill and called for further freedoms. Many demonstrators were either students or in their 20s.

Beijing responded by passing the national security law for Hong Kong in June 2020. It strictly prohibits acts deemed as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson then announced that his government was launching the BNO program to aid residents in the former British colony because the security legislation threatened Hong Kong’s unique freedoms.

China has not recognized the BNO passport for Hong Kong residents since Jan. 31, 2021.

The lifeboat plan, however, has already contributed to thousands leaving, data suggest. According to data released by Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong’s population declined 1.2% by mid-2021, equating to approximately 89,200 people, the biggest decrease in Hong Kong’s population in 60 years, Agence France-Presse reported.

A government spokesperson has defended the decline, insisting the figures are due to a lack of new arrivals into the city.

Joseph Cheng, a political analyst formerly of Hong Kong but now in New Zealand, said the amendment is a boost for younger Hong Kong residents.

“This is going to be a major help to the young people in Hong Kong who want to emigrate, especially for those who do not have the wealth. The U.K. has been the most favored destination for Hong Kong people who plan to leave,” he told VOA.

“The exodus reflects the general disappointment with the government on the part of the Hong Kong society,” Cheng added.

An initial assessment by the British government previously estimated that by 2026, up to 300,000 could apply to emigrate via the BNO plan. As of Dec. 31, 2021, 103,900 applications had been received.

Ernie, a 20-year-old student in Hong Kong, told VOA he would now consider applying for the plan.

“I feel positive that the U.K. government is finally stepping up, helping the young adults in Hong Kong. [The] Hong Konger community in the U.K. is huge and growing. It would be easier for Hong Kong people to settle,” he said.

Ernie is considering moving to Britain because of health and political measures in Hong Kong.

“[Hong Kong is] too strict in pandemic measures. [And the] political environment keeps evolving. The idea that a lot of people who you support three, four years ago, before any protest begin, are being prosecuted and jailed right now for whatever reason seems frightening,” he said.

Michael Mo, a former district councilor in Hong Kong who now resides in Britain, said many who emigrate will be students needing financial support for their studies.

“The next step of the U.K. government, if they change the rules, should allow BNO visa holders to be treated as home fee students at universities. “Home fees are capped by the Government and generally lower than international fees,” according to the House of Commons Library website.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement that would see the city enjoy a “high degree of autonomy” for 50 years. But critics have said Beijing has since broken this agreement by tightening its grip on the city’s political and lawful affairs.

Hong Kong’s national security law has had a dramatic effect on the city. Street protests and slogans have been banned. Hundreds of dissidents have been arrested, including dozens of democratic lawmakers, and media outlets also have been forced to close.