UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said that prime minister Boris Johnson "misspoke" when he claimed that sanctions had been brought against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in parliament on Tuesday.
After announcing sanctions against five Russian banks and three individuals who are close allies of Vladimir Putin, Johnson was asked in the House of Commons by Labour's Margaret Hodge if further sanctions would be introduced. Among the list of potential targets listed by Hodge, Abramovich and former Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov were named.
Johnson caused confusion when he stated that Abramovich was subject to sanctions, even though he was not one of the three individuals he originally named.
Johnson then left the Commons in the middle of a question from fellow MP Chris Bryant which aimed to clarify the prime minister’s comments on Abramovich.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Truss stated that Johnson was indeed incorrect and that the parliamentary record would be corrected. However, earlier in the interview she did suggest that indiviuals like Abramovich could be targeted by future sanctions, saying that “Nothing is off the table in terms of who we’re targeting.”
When asked if the Champions League final should still be held at St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena in May, Truss replied: “I’m very clear it shouldn’t be.”
This comes after Uefa - the only body with the power to change the final - stated on Tuesday that it would be monitoring the situation but that its current positioLizzn was unchanged.
