UK ports should refuse access to Russian boats, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said. With a Russian-owned ship due to dock in Orkney on Tuesday, the UK Government had been urged to ban the country’s vessels in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Shapps has now written to all UK ports telling them not to provide access to any ship believed to be registered in Russia, flying the Russian flag or owned, controlled, chartered or operated by “any person connected with Russia”. He added that the UK Government will try to pass legislation prohibiting their arrival. In his letter, Shapps wrote: “Russia’s assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated attack against a sovereign democratic state. “The UK Government has been clear there would be massive consequences and a severe cost for any Russian military incursion into Ukraine and, in coordination with our international allies and partners, we are developing …