Ministers are drawing up plans to seize billions of pounds in frozen oligarch assets, including property and cash, and use them to help rebuild Ukraine.
The National Security Council has held discussions about whether the government can do more with the personal wealth of sanctioned oligarchs. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is said to be an advocate of plans to seize their wealth and the Home Office is said to be considering legislation.
The government wants to use the Russian oligarchs’ wealth, which is estimated at £10bn, to fund a “Marshall plan” to rebuild Ukraine. There is an active discussion about whether the money could also go towards providing Ukraine with more weapons.
The government wants to take a co-ordinated approach with other nations. Canada has announced plans to introduce laws to enable it to redistribute the wealth of oligarchs to victims of the war in Ukraine.
Ministers in Britain have discussed whether sanctions legislation can be amended to enable the government to seize assets but there are concerns over legal action.
The UK has to date sanctioned more than 100 oligarchs and their family members over their links to Vladamir Putin’s regime.
Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, has pushed for the government to seize mansions belonging to oligarchs and use them to house Ukrainian refugees.
