Ukraine invasion: Sheffield MP Clive Betts challenges Prime Minister Boris Johnson following Russian sanctions

Clive Betts MP for Sheffield South East challenged the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Tuesday following the announcement of the first wave of sanctions on Russia.

Mr Johnson had announced the measures following the Russian decision to move troops into Eastern Ukraine.

Currently, the sanctions announced on Russia by the Government are on five Russian banks and three wealthy Russian citizens with Kremlin ties. More sanctions are said to be announced soon as Government ministers promise this is simply the first wave.

“The Prime Minister has spoken about a first round of sanctions with more to follow. Could he be absolutely clear that further sanctions are not dependant on Putin going into Western Ukraine, it is rather simply a matter of coordinating with our allies on this,” asked Mr Betts.

“We have to act on speed and in parallel with our allies against Russia. These sanctions alone will not be enough, so we need to know that more will follow and quickly. While we can hope that Putin will reconsider the situation, now that he has put troops in Eastern Ukraine, we have to assume he will continue this attack.

"That necessitates harsher sanctions in the coming days, otherwise it will send the worst message possible, both to Russia and other states considering challenging the rules based global order.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned that the limited sanctions announced against Russia so far could "send the wrong message" to Vladimir Putin.

Sir Keir said "there already has been an invasion" and urged Mr Johnson to unleash the full package of sanctions, "including excluding Russians from financial mechanisms like Swift and a ban on trading in Russian sovereign debt".

Mr Johnson said: "What we want to see is de-escalation by Vladimir Putin.

"There is still hope that he will see sense, but we are ready very rapidly to escalate our sanctions."

The Prime Minister said the next wave of measures "will stop all Russian banks, all oligarchs, all Russian individuals, raising money on London markets".