Britain on Friday unveiled a new set of Russia-related sanctions targeting vessels transporting Russian oil, along with companies and individuals providing electronics, chemicals, and explosives used in Russian weapons production.
The package was a response to recent Russian aggression, the British government said in a statement, referring to the higher numbers of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine in recent months, and the violation of NATO airspace over Poland on Wednesday.
The announcement, delivered by new UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper during her visit to Kyiv, comes at a time when Vladimir Putin is escalating hostilities rather than engaging in peace efforts, having recently launched the largest air assault of the war against Ukraine, unleashing more than 800 missiles and drones in a single night.
Intensified Russian Strikes
The scale of Russia’s attacks has intensified dramatically, with 6,500 drones and missiles launched against Ukraine in July alone — a figure ten times higher than last year — with recent strikes directly hitting the Ukrainian cabinet of ministers, damaging the British Council and EU delegation offices in Kyiv, and even violating NATO airspace over Poland.
“International action to increase economic pressure on Russia and to cut off critical cash flows which he desperately needs to pay for this illegal war is vital,” Cooper said as she visited Kyiv on Friday.
“These sanctions form the next stage in the UK’s leading efforts to ramp up economic pressure alongside our security support.”
The new sanctions target 70 more ships that Britain said were being used to transport Russian oil, and 30 companies and individuals that it said were involved in supplying the Russian military with kit used in weapons systems, including one China-based electronics firm and one located in Turkey.
Russia’s embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while China’s embassy said it had made “serious representations” to Britain, objecting to the sanctions against three Chinese entities.
“These sanctions are unilateral actions without any basis in international law. They undermine the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” a spokesperson said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
