The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced a comprehensive set of sanctions against five Russian banks and three senior officials. Both banks and individuals are no longer able to access the money they hold in the UK and the high-ranking are temporarily banned from entering the country.

These are the banks Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and Black Sea Bank. Among the sanctioned persons is Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire and confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Johnson is taking the measures after Putin sent army tanks to Ukraine last night under the guise of a peacekeeping mission, thereby fuelling the conflict between the two countries.

“We must now arm ourselves against the possible next steps of Putin’s plan,” Johnson said. “He is laying the groundwork for a large-scale offensive.”

The British Prime Minister indicated on Tuesday that the sanctions could still be extended and that, for example, Russian companies can no longer have access to British and American money. As a result, the companies in those countries are no longer able to raise capital and no longer have access to the stock exchanges of London or New York.

The European Union and the United States also announced that they are going to take sanctions, but they are not yet concrete. The EU will announce the sanctions package later on Tuesday after a meeting with all foreign ministers and the US will also quickly come up with an announcement.