Challenging Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer asked the prime minister why he had not yet sanctioned the major Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Johnson responded that it was “not appropriate for me to comment on individual cases at this stage.” Johnson then shifted the topic onto broader sanctions against the Kremlin.

His response underlines the British government’s continuing hesitation about truly confronting Vladimir Putin’s most important oligarchs.