Liz Truss vows ‘nowhere to hide’ for Putin allies if Ukraine invaded

Foreign secretary echoes US plans for sanctions on Russian elite but offers no new curbs on money laundering in UK

Liz Truss, the British foreign secretary, has said Russian oligarchs and key supporters of Vladimir Putin will be targeted by UK sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, but left Britain's existing much-criticised anti-corruption laws largely untouched.

Insisting that the Russian president's allies would have nowhere to hide their assets if an invasion went ahead, the Foreign Office, clearly working in lockstep with the US, threatened to seize the wealth of Putin's inner political circle and business backers.