UK extends sanctions against Russia, with more than 80 designations
Photo via EPA

The United Kingdom on Friday announced a new package of sanctions against Russia, targeting its energy, metals, defence, transport, and financial sectors critical to its ability to wage war against Ukraine.

The designations come on the heels of the Group of Seven (G7) summit starting today in Japan, reportedly attended by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Through today’s new sanctions we are increasing the economic pressure on Putin – making it harder for him to wage his illegal war and inflict untold suffering on innocent Ukrainians," UK foreign secretary James Cleverly was quoted as saying.

Energy

The UK introduces designations of nine organisations connected to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company, Rosatom, including UMATEX, which produces composite materials based on carbon fibre for Rosatom that could be used for military purposes, and TRINITI whose research and development into laser physics is directly funded by Russia’s state defence order.

Also sanctioned is Oleg Romanenko, a lead official at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant who has been colluding with the Russian government, thirteen members of the Gazprom-Neft board of directors, and five members of the Transneft board of directors.

Metals

Igor Altushkin, the billionaire oligarch who owns the Russian Copper Company, the third largest producer of copper in Russia, has been sanctioned. Other designations include Alexei Mordashov's Severstal, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Pipe Metallurgical Company, United Metallurgical Company, Mechel-Stal Management, and Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant.

The UK has announced that we will also ban imports of Russian metals including aluminium, nickel, and copper.

Russia’s metal industry remains an important revenue stream funding the Kremlin’s war machine, and has a wider impact on the operation of other sectors such as transport and energy.

Transport

24 Individuals and entities connected to Russia’s transport services have also been sanctioned, including Pawell Shipping Co LLP, the State Grain Corporation (GZO) and their director Nikita Busel who are connected to the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain.

Six major Russian shipping companies which have enabled and supported Putin’s wartime economy – including Volga Shipping Company, Sovfracht, Far Eastern Shipping Company, and Sun Ship Management – have also been sanctioned.

→ Banks

Five financial institutions have also been sanctioned by the UK, including Rosbank, Tinkoff Bank, the All-Russian Bank for Regional Development, Metallinvestbank, and Dom.RF, a specialised mortgage bank.

→ Military

Today’s UK sanctions affect twenty defence executives and companies, including at JSC Concern Kalashnikov, which produces 95 percent of all firearms in Russia, Balakirevsky Mechanical Plant, which has produced anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and JSC Motovilikhinskiye, which manufactures howitzers.