UK Marks Two Years of Russia's Ukraine Invasion with New Sanctions

The Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, has today (22 February) announced more than 50 new sanctions targeting individuals and businesses sustaining Putin's illegal war in Ukraine.

Sanctions crack down on those supplying his depleted armoury with munitions such as rocket launch systems, missiles and explosives.

These new sanctions also target key sources of Russian revenue, clamping down on metals, diamonds, and energy trade, and cutting off funding for Putin's illegal war from every angle.

Foreign Secretary, David Cameron said:

Ukraine has shown that it can and will defend itself. Putin mistakenly thought that because Russia's economy is bigger than Ukraine's, he would gain a quick victory. But the economies of Ukraine's friends are 25 times bigger than Russia's.

And two years on, we stand united in support for Ukraine.

Our international economic pressure means Russia cannot afford this illegal invasion. Our sanctions are starving Putin of the resources he desperately needs to fund his struggling war.

Together, we will not let up in the face of tyranny. We will continue to support Ukraine as it fights for democracy- for as long as it takes.

Today's measures will disrupt Putin's ability to equip his now struggling military with high tech equipment and much needed weaponry, as well as blocking him from refilling his war coffers- while Ukraine defends itself.

This round of designations serves as a clear signal that two years on, the UK stands united with our allies in unwavering support for Ukraine.

Today's package forms part of wider UK action to restrict Putin's war revenue streams and clamp down on his repeated attempts to evade western sanctions. We are preparing to bolster our existing powers to target malign Russian shipping activity and individual 'shadow fleet' vessels used by Russia to soften the blow of oil-related sanctions imposed by the UK alongside G7 partners.

This week new measures to strengthen the existing Oil Price Cap also came into force and we have expanded the list of items critical to Russia's war machine that we are seeking to prevent getting to Russia.

The UK also launches its first sanctions strategy today, which sets out how our sanctions regimes are tackling malign activity and making a difference. We are in a more dangerous and uncertain world. Our latest Russia sanctions are one example of how our enhanced approach to sanctions enables us to respond. The new strategy sets out how we are working with allies and partners to address changing threats, to maximise our impact on the ground and to protect the UK.

This comes as Foreign Secretary David Cameron is due to visit New York for a special UN session dedicated to Ukraine. While there, he is expected to meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. His visit will mark the two-year milestone of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, and he is expected to underscore the UK's unending support for Ukraine.

Among those sanctioned today are:

• Companies linked to manufacturing munitions such as rocket launch systems, missiles, explosives and other critical goods used in military equipment. This includes Sverdlov State Owned Enterprise, the largest enterprise in the Russian ammunition industry.
• Key Russian importers and manufacturers of machine tools, which are instrumental in manufacturing vital defence systems and components ranging from missiles and engines to tanks and fighter jets.
• Oil trader Niels Troost and his company Paramount Energy & Commodities SA. Troost facilitates the unfettered trade of Russian oil outside the reach of UK and G7 sanctions, including through UAE-based Paramount Energy & Commodities DMCC, which the UK designated in November 2023.
• Fractal Marine DMCC, Beks Ship Management, and Active Shipping, which operate in the Russian energy sector as part of Putin's shadow fleet.
• Two Russian diamond companies and Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev, the new CEO of Alrosa, the largest state-owned Russian diamond producer, estimated to hold a 30% share in the global diamond market.
• Five senior executives or owners of Russia's top producers of copper, zinc and steel.

Background:

• The UK has sanctioned 2,000 individuals, companies and groups under our Russia sanctions regime alone.
• The UK, US and the EU have today added 5 new items to the Common High Priority (CHP) list published in September 2023. These 50 items are critical to Russian weapons systems and for its military development. The 5 new codes apply to Computer Numerically Controlled machines, which are crucial in the manufacture and maintenance of vital military equipment. Industry should take note of the updated list and apply tighter controls and due diligence in the exports of these items to ensure they are not diverted to Russia.
• The diamond related designations announced today support the coordinated diamond ban with G7 partners that will come into force on 1st March.

The list of those sanctioned today includes:

• Russia's military industrial complex: 14 individuals and entities linked to manufacturing munitions such as rocket launch systems, missiles, explosives and other critical goods used in military equipment. This includes the largest enterprise in the Russian ammunition industry.

Foreign entities and individuals, including:

• Cozum Yazilim Donanim Elektronik, a Turkish company involved in the supply of electronics essential to Putin's war machine to sanctioned Russian company Fastimpex.
• Three companies based in China: Finder Technology LTD and JUHANG Aviation Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Limited which have been supplying sanctioned electronics to Russia; and Beijing Micropilot Flight Control Systems Co., LTD, a UAV company producing engines which have been found in UAVs used by Russian forces in Ukraine.

• two Belarus entities, which are operating in sectors of strategic significance for the Government of Belarus- Precise Electro-Mechanics Plant, which produces various defence products and JSC Planar, which produces semiconductors and other electronics.

• Three targets relating to Russian proxy Private Military Security Companies and the networks that support them including PMC Redut, a Russian private military company reportedly involved in the recruitment and deployment of fighters to serve alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. *Importers and manufacturers of machine tools, which are widely used in the Russian defence sector and critical for the production of military equipment ranging from missiles and engines to tanks and fighter jets. This includes: JSC SASTA, JSC BALTIC INDUSTRIAL, LLC BITVAN, CHELYABINSK FORGE AND PRESS PLANT, and LLC STAN.
• ANNA YUREVNA LUZHANSKAYA, the owner of sanctioned Russian electronics company, LLC Fly Bridge. Fly Bridge, alongside other sanctioned persons Maxim Ermakov and NPP Istok, are part of a covert procurement network used by Russia to acquire critical western technology. And INKOTEKH, a Russian importer of microcircuits, connectors, computing modules, and microwave technology components that have been found in the Kalibr missile system being used by Russia in Ukraine.
• We are also designating 224th FLIGHT UNIT STATE AIRLINES and its director, VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH MIKHEYCHIK, for operating in Russia's transport sector. The company has reportedly also been involved in the transfer of weapons from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Russia and supporting Wagner troop movements.
• Azia Shipping Company and Ibex Shipping INC, which are involved in the transfer of weapons from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to Russia. And Azia Shipping Holdings LTD, which is involved in the Russian transport sector.

Oil related:

• Oil trader Niels Troost and his company Paramount Energy & Commodities SA, which facilitate unfettered trade in Russian oil beyond the reach of the Oil Price Cap.
• Shipping companies Fractal Marine DMCC, Beks Ship Management, and Active Shipping, which carry on business in the Russian energy sector as part of Putin's shadow fleet.

LNG related:

• Arctic LNG 2 and its director, Oleg Vyacheslavovich Karpushin. This is one of the key links in Putin's plan to make Russia a major LNG player
• 6 directors of PJSC Novatek, which is the majority owner of Arctic LNG 2 and a vital asset to Russia's future as an energy superpower: Lev Vladimirovich Feodosyev, Valery Anatolyevich Kryukov, Viktor Gennadiyevich Nesterenko, Alexei Vitalyevich Orel, Irina Vernerovna Gaida and Alexander Yegorovich Natalenko.

Diamonds related:

• Two Russian diamond companies, OJSC Almazny Mir and JSC AGD Diamonds, and Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev, the new CEO of Alrosa, the largest state-owned Russian diamond company, estimated to hold a 30% share in the global diamond market.
• Four members of the Management Board of Alrosa, Russia's state-owned diamond company, including Evgenii Yuryevich Agureev, Sergei Vladimirovich Barsukov, Aleksei Nikolaevich Filippovskii and Igor Vitalyevich Sobolev.

Metals related:

• Owners of Ural Mining and Metallurgical (UMMC), one of Russia's top producers of copper and zinc, including Eduard Alexandrovich Chukhlebov, Igor Gennadievich Kudryashkin and Aleksandr Vladimirovich Bunin.
• Anatoly Mikhailovich Sedykh - Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Metallurgical Company (OMK) - one of Russia's top producers of steel pipes.
• Igor Vladimirovich Zyuzin - Chairman of the Board of Directors for Mechel PAO, Russia's top producer of speciality steels and alloys.
• Two aluminium companies: Samara Metallurgical Company - one of Russia's largest producers of finished aluminium; Kamensk-Uralskiy Metallurgicheskiy Zavod - one of the leading manufacturers of aluminium semi-finished products.

Definitions

• Asset freeze: An asset freeze prevents any UK citizen, or any business in the UK, from dealing with any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or controlled by the designated person. UK financial sanctions apply to all persons within the territory and territorial sea of the UK and to all UK persons, wherever they are in the world. It also prevents funds or economic resources being provided to or for the benefit of the designated person.
• Trust services sanctions: Trust services sanctions mean it is generally prohibited within the UK, and for UK persons outside the UK, to provide trusts services to or for the benefit of a designated person. Trusts services means (1) the creation of a trust or similar arrangement, (2) the provision of a registered office, business address, correspondence address or administrative address for a trust or similar arrangement, (3) the operation or management of a trust or similar arrangement, or (4) acting or arranging for another person to act as trustee of a trust or similar arrangement, where "trustee", in relation to an arrangement similar to a trust, means a person who holds an equivalent or similar position to a trustee of a trust.
• Transport sanctions: Transport sanctions include restrictions on the ownership, registration or movement of ships and aircraft. This can include restrictions on movements to and from ports, harbours and airports, and the detention of ships and aircraft.
• Immigration sanctions (commonly known as Travel Bans): A travel ban means that the designated person must be refused leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom, providing the individual to be an excluded person under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971.