Pro-Russian UK journalist put on sanctions list

Graham Phillips, pictured here in 2015, has lived in Ukraine for many years

A British journalist who has worked for Russian media has been officially sanctioned by the UK government.

Graham Phillips, 43, from Nottingham, has been criticised for pro-Putin coverage of the war in Ukraine.

He was accused of war crimes after videoing captured Briton Aiden Aslin, and describing him as a "mercenary" rather than a prisoner of war.

Officials said Mr Phillip's assets had been frozen as his media content helped "destabilise Ukraine".

Aiden Aslin was told by the interviewer that he could face the death penalty

In 2014 Mr Phillips, while working for Russia Today, was detained but then released by the Ukrainian authorities.

The Defence Ministry said he had been "filming facilities which are forbidden from being filmed".

In April Mr Aslin, originally from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was seized by Russian forces during the battle for Mariupol.

He appeared, handcuffed, in a video posted on Mr Phillips' YouTube channel.

At the time Newark MP Robert Jenrick said the footage was "a flagrant breach of the Geneva Conventions" and Mr Phillips was "in danger of prosecution for war crimes".

YouTube removed the video and halted advertising revenue to his account.

Now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has confirmed Mr Phillips is included in the latest round of sanctions.

In a statement of reasons for the move it said: "Graham Phillips is a video blogger who has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine."

Commenting on the wider sanctions, the FCDO said: "Today's sanctions build on the UK's hard-hitting sanctions package on Russia which includes designations on more than 1,100 individuals and more than 100 entities.

"Additional powers have also recently come into force, including the prohibition of new UK investment into Russia, the banning of Russian gold from the UK's world-leading bullion market, and further expanding of the criteria for who can be sanctioned."