Financial experts at Suffolk police are conducting a "deep dive" into the force's supply chain to ensure there are no links to Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Kenneth Kilpatrick, finance officer at Suffolk Constabulary, said the investigation into the force's suppliers was ongoing but so far there had been no red flags.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has led to many organisations and businesses severing all links with the country.

Major UK firms including BP, Shell and Centrica were among the first to cut ties, and in March, chancellor Rishi Sunak called for companies to go further to inflict "maximum economic pain" on Moscow.

On Thursday, the UK tightened sanctions on Russian airlines, preventing the sale of landing slots at British airports worth around £50million.

Russian airlines had already been banned from the UK as a result of the war.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk's police and crime commissioner, asked Mr Kilpatrick for an update at the accountability and performance panel meeting held last week to "reassure the public that we are doing everything possible to make sure we are clear of anything to do with the Russian economy".

In response, Mr Kilpatrick said: "We've done some work regionally and nationally to try to look at suppliers and to confirm there are no links to Russian companies, and there are none.

"We're digging a bit deeper now in terms of ownership of companies that are non-Russian, so maybe European companies and some UK companies to see if there are any ownership ties to Russian individuals, Russian companies or to Russian investment funds.

"That's taking a bit of time. The initial look we did was fine, nothing was being triggered there that would give us any cause for concern but we are doing a much more detailed look just to confirm that we understand who owns the companies that are supplying the constabulary.

"That work is ongoing and is likely to conclude over the next couple of weeks but it is quite a deep dive there. But certainly the first two levels we've looked at, there have been no links to Russia."