PRESS RELEASE : New UK sanctions to crack down on Putin’s war machine [June 2024]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 13 June 2024.
UK announces 50 new sanctions designations and specifications to degrade Putin’s war machine, in co-ordinated action with G7 partners to support Ukraine.
New targets include ships in Putin’s shadow fleet, institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system and suppliers supporting Russia’s military production.
These new sanctions, announced while the Prime Minister attends the G7 Leaders Summit in Italy, will bear down on Russia’s ability to fund and equip its war machine and show the UK’s steadfast support for Ukraine.
Today’s action includes the UK’s first sanctions targeting vessels in Putin’s shadow fleet, used by Russia to circumvent UK and G7 sanctions and continue unfettered trade in Russian oil.
As part of its enduring commitment to the region, the UK has today committed to providing £242m in bilateral assistance to Ukraine, to support immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilisation needs, and is also working with counterparts to agree a mechanism to bring forward the extraordinary profits stemming from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to the benefit of Ukraine.
Russia’s oil exports are Putin’s most critical revenue source for funding his illegal war in Ukraine. Tax on oil production collected by the Kremlin in 2023 amounted to 8.9 trillion roubles, or 31% of Russia’s total federal revenues. Today’s sanctions aim to disrupt and increase the costs of Russia’s efforts to bypass UK and G7 sanctions through its shadow fleet.
These new sanctions also target suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan and Türkiye, along with ships which transport military goods from North Korea to Russia.
In addition, this new package cracks down on institutions at the heart of Russia’s financial system, including the Moscow Stock Exchange. This action is taken in coordination with the US, which designated the Moscow Stock Exchange on 12 June.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
The UK will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for freedom.
Today we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia’s ability to fund its war machine. Putin must lose, and cutting off his ability to fund a prolonged conflict is absolutely vital.
Foreign Secretary, David Cameron said:
UK sanctions are starving Putin of the revenue he desperately needs to fund his war chest and making it harder to supply his war machine.
We will continue to work alongside our partners to increase economic pressure and demonstrate that the UK and the G7 will stand by Ukraine in this fight.
So far, sanctions have deprived Russia of over $400bn worth of assets and revenues since February 2022. That’s equivalent to four more years of funding for the invasion. The UK has sanctioned over 2,000 individuals and entities under our Russia sanctions regime.
This includes 29 banks accounting for over 90% of the Russian banking sector and over 130 oligarchs and family members who had a combined net worth around £147 billion at the time of the invasion. Over £20 billion of UK-Russia bilateral trade (2021 figures) is now under full or partial sanction. There has been a 99% fall in Russian imports into the UK, and a 73% fall in UK exports to Russia.
