Liz Truss vows to 'inflict pain on Vladimir Putin' as British troops stationed in Eastern Europe

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has told GB News that the UK will "inflict pain on Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime", stating the Russian President has made a "massive miscalculation".

Boris Johnson has been urged to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow as the Foreign Secretary said the Government was already considering a number of further measures to stop Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine.

Speaking to Stephen Dixon and Isabel Webster, Truss said: “We cannot allow Putin to divide the West, we cannot allow him to play divide and rule.

“What we haven’t yet had is confirmation of Russian troops in those areas in Ukraine.

“We haven’t seen a full scale invasion, the situation is ambiguous and of course the Russians are constantly putting out disinformation.

“We are looking at further controls on financial markets, we have a long list of oligarchs that we will be targeting in the event of a full frontal invasion of Ukraine.

“We are also looking at other banks we can target, other companies of interest to the Russian government.

“The purpose of this is to inflict pain on Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime."

Johnson is likely to come under fire in the Commons today over the punishment doled out to Kremlin-linked oligarchs and banks in response to Russian aggression.

He had announced that three billionaire allies of the Russian President and five Russian banks would face punitive measures.

The sanctions, which include UK asset freezes, a travel ban and prohibition on British individuals and businesses dealing with them, were also tabled against Russian banks Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank.

Similar sanctions have been announced by allies in the European Union and the US.

It comes as the UK "doubled down" on the number of military in Estonia and sent more equipment over.

Last week the British Army announced: "The Royal Welsh Battlegroup, which includes armoured vehicles and personnel from the Royal Engineers, Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps and Royal Artillery, will leave Sennelager in Germany and bases in the UK today, and begin to arrive in Estonia during the coming weeks.

"A Company of Danish soldiers and vehicles also form part of the Battlegroup, working side by side with British troops."

Johnson and Downing Street insisted this was only the “first barrage” of measures, where “very high net wealth individuals” Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg – who he described as “cronies” of the Russian President – were targeted.

Truss went on to warn the Russian President that he had not assessed the situation properly, telling GB News: “I believe Vladimir Putin has made a massive miscalculation, I believe the Ukrainians will fight and this will be a very very difficult war for Russia.

“I also see from the evidence that is in front of us that he is hell-bent on doing it regrettably."

In Europe, the 27 EU member states unanimously agreed to a package of measures.

Earlier, Russia’s ambassador to the UK was told his country would “pay the price for its actions” after he was summoned to the Foreign Office.