UK freezes assets of seven Russian businessmen, including Roman Abramovich

Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government as part of attempts to crackdown on wealthy Russians with assets in the country, Sky News reports.

The Chelsea Football Club owner is one of seven more Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen by UK.

The UK is the first nation to sanction Mr Abramovich.

The other six Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned by the UK government on Thursday are: Oleg Deripaska, who has stakes in En+ Group - a major extractives and energy company, Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft - a Russian state oil company, Andrey Kostin, chairman of VTB bank - the second largest bank in Russia, Alexei Miller, CEO of energy company Gazprom, Nikolai Tokarev, president of the Russia state-owned pipeline company Transneft, Dmitri Lebedev, chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya - widely considered to be The Kremlin's private bank.

The seven latest individuals to be sanctioned have a collective net worth of around £15bn.

The government has now sanctioned over 200 individuals and entities.