New U.K., U.S. sanctions tighten grip on Russia over Ukraine war

Following the U.S. lead, the U.K. announced a wave of new sanctions on Thursday, targeting Russia’s financial system, military suppliers, and “shadow fleet” used to evade oil export curbs. The coordinated action by the allies aims to cripple Russia’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

The 50 new sanctions, coordinated with G7 partners, come a day after similar measures from Washington, prompting the Moscow Exchange to halt dollar and euro trading.

“Today, we are once more ramping up economic pressure through sanctions to bear down on Russia’s ability to fund its war machine,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated as G7 leaders gathered in southern Italy.

“Putin must lose, and cutting off his ability to fund a prolonged conflict is absolutely vital,” Mr Sunak said.

Key Actions:

• Financial Squeeze: New restrictions target the Russian financial system, further hindering its ability to generate funds for the war.
• Supply Chain Disruption: Sanctions focus on companies supplying munitions, equipment, and logistics support to Russia’s military, including entities in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.
• Shadow Fleet Targeted: The UK takes its first strike against Russia’s “shadow fleet,” vessels used to bypass restrictions on oil exports.
• Frozen Assets for Ukraine: The UK and G7 partners are exploring ways to unlock frozen Russian assets and utilize them to aid Ukraine.

G7 Partners

The move follows Washington’s new sanctions targeting foreign banks still dealing with Russia, which led the Moscow Exchange to halt dollar and euro trades on Thursday.

The Russian central bank, Rosbank’s website was down Thursday. Multiple Russian banks prevented clients from logging in because they did not have dollars and Euros to pay due to new US sanctions.

Among the U.K.’s new sanctions are the first restrictions on vessels in Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, used to bypass Western oil export curbs. The sanctions also target suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics to Russia’s military, including entities in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey, and ships transporting military goods from North Korea to Russia.

Additionally, the G7 is collaborating to devise a mechanism to redirect profits from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to benefit Ukraine. The White House announced that measures to aid Ukraine using frozen Russian assets would be revealed during the G7 summit.

Under the arrangement, Ukraine will receive at least $50 billion yearly.