Sanctions on Russia are like “breaking eggs” to make an omelette, the Foreign Secretary declared today as he admitted that British firms will be hit.
Philip Hammond said: “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and if we want to impose economic pain on Russia in order to try to encourage it to behave properly in eastern Ukraine, and to give access to the (air) crash site, then we have to be prepared to take these measures.”
He spoke as the US and Europe tightened the economic noose on Russia — as fierce fighting prevented crash investigators from reaching the site of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Almost 300 died in the atrocity, including nine Britons. Four “cronies” of Russian President Vladimir Putin were to be named along with four other officials who will face personal sanctions such as asset freezing in an effort to raise the pressure on Moscow. New US measures include a ban on people there using three Russian banks.
