The British government announced on Wednesday sanctions on oligarch Vladimir Potanin, known as Russia’s “Nickel King”, who has been snapping up assets from companies exiting his home country over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Potanin, considered Russia’s second-richest man, is one of several multibillionaires targeted by Britain’s fresh sanctions, which hit President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

For all its tough talk against Russia, the UK's government is failing to enforce its promises to clean up dirty foreign money, a hard-hitting report by MPs said Thursday.

It was "shameful" that after years of warnings, the government only began to clamp down on the illicit flows when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said.

The government has brought in new legislation to prevent corrupt funds being laundered through Britain's property market.

Speaking to journalists in Turkmenistan on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to questions about several recent remarks from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. During the latest G7 summit, the UK leader joked that his allies should take their clothes off for the photoshoot – to show that they are “tougher than Putin.”

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Tuesday that a second Scottish independence referendum will be held on October 19, 2023. However, a ‘yes’ vote will not be enough to separate Scotland from the UK.

Sturgeon told lawmakers at Holyrood, Scotland’s parliament, that her government would publish the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill later on Tuesday. The bill will provide for a referendum next October in which Scots will be asked the same question as in the failed 2014 independence referendum: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Britain and its allies face their "1937 moment" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and must do everything possible to avert another world war, the new head of the army has said.

The warning emerged as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce an uplift in UK defence spending this week, in line with growing security challenges.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that he feared Ukraine could face pressure to agree a peace deal with Russia that was not in its interests, due to the economic consequences of the war in Europe.

"Too many countries are saying this is a European war that is unnecessary ... and so the pressure will grow to encourage - coerce, maybe - the Ukrainians to a bad peace," he told broadcasters in the Rwandan capital Kigali, where he is attending a Commonwealth summit.

Britain has to 'strengthen' its preparations for the possibility of a new pandemic labelled 'Disease X', according to experts, after a string of infectious diseases hit the UK in the past six months.

After traces of polio was found in sewage samples in parts of London for the first time in 40 years this week, an expert in diseases has said that after a series of health 'events' in the past six months, there is likely something 'on the horizon'.