Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced that the government has added 14 media entities and individuals to its sanctions list, including Russian state media figures, such as TV news anchor Sergey Brilev and Mikhail Mizintsev, an army general dubbed "the butcher of Mariupol."
The move is the latest in a series of sanctions designed to put pressure on Putin's government and bankrupt Russia's invasion of Ukraine as it continues into its second month.
The government slapped sanctions last week on 65 Russian and Belarusian banks, firms and oligarchs, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.
"Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives," Truss said. "We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table," she added.
The government also added three companies to the sanctions list, bringing the total number of newly sanctioned companies to 17. City of London- based partnerships Photon Pro and Majory were placed under new sanctions, along with the Malta-linked Scottish limited partnership Djeco Group, following sanctions placed on the firms by the U.S. government three weeks ago.
Djeco Group was created in July 2019 and is allegedly linked to two Maltese businesses, MaltaRent Ltd. and Malberg Ltd. The U.S. Treasury accused the three companies of being part of a procurement network for Russian Intelligence agencies, using the Moscow-based company Serniya Engineering as the central node of the network.
The asset freezes criminalize U.K.-based businesses interacting with any British funds or assets owned or controlled by the sanctioned person or company. The sanctions include travel bans and transport sanctions against the individuals, meaning they would be prevented from crossing U.K. borders and landing any of their boats or aircraft within Britain.
Brilev is an anchor on TV channel Rossiya-1, the second-most popular channel in the Russian Federation. The sanctions will prevent Brilev from using his U.K. property, despite the former London resident holding a British passport, according to imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
The News on Sunday presenter is also a member of the Russian International Affairs Council, a think tank headed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian press secretary Dimitri Peskov. He headed Rossiya-1's London bureau between 1996 and 2001, and has interviewed Putin and Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the channel.
Mizintsev heads the National Defense Command and Control Center, in Moscow, which directs global Russian military operations. Mizintsev is linked to Russian operations in the Syrian city of Aleppo, as well as the devastating shelling of Mariupol, a besieged Black Sea port city of 430,000.
The measures also include sanctions against Rossiya Segodnya and TV-Novosti, the parent companies of Russian state news organizations RT, formerly Russia Today, and Sputnik. RT Managing Director Alexey Nikolov and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Anton Ansimov were also sanctioned as the government accused them of "publishing Kremlin propaganda."
Sanctions were also leveled against Gazprom-Media chief executive Aleksandr Zharov, the parent company of major Russian TV channel NTV. Zharov is a former head of Roskomnadzor, the government regulator responsible for media and internet censorship in Russia.
The new measures will prevent RT from raising capital in Britain through securities and loans after U.K. communications regulator Ofcom revoked its license to broadcast in March.
The government also sanctioned seven directors and editors associated with the Strategic Culture Foundation, an online journal based in Russia. The Australian government has also sanctioned the journal.
--Editing by Joe Millis.
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