UK announces major sanctions against Russia
On 20 May the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office announced what it calls “major sanctions” against Russia in support of Ukraine. The European Union also applied sanctions but Putin’s friend Trump did not.
As President Putin ruthlessly intensifies his strikes against innocent Ukrainians, the UK is ramping up pressure with raft of 100 new sanctions.
The latest sanctions targets include entities supporting Russia’s military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Saturday, Russia fired 273 drones at Ukrainian cities, the biggest drone onslaught of the war. A strike on a bus in Sumy killed 9 civilians.
Putin has so far not put in place the full, unconditional ceasefire that President Trump has called for, and which President Zelenskyy endorsed over 2 months ago.
The UK’s latest sanctions action comes as the EU prepares to announce its 17th package of sanctions against Russia, in a co-ordinated effort to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
Today’s measures sanction the supply chains of deadly Russian weapons systems, including Iskander missiles. This will protect Ukrainian lives, and our collective security by disrupting Russia’s military machine.
Putin has repeatedly fired Iskander missiles into crowded civilian areas with a callous disregard for life. He used these weapons during the strike against Sumy on 13 April that killed 34 civilians including children, some of them heading for Palm Sunday services.
UK and other Western sanctions are having a severe effect on Russia’s economy. Russian GDP shrank in the first quarter of the year and the non-defence economy has been in recession for some time. Security and defence spending is now over 40% of the federal budget, and Putin has had to raise taxes and slash social spending in order to continue the war.
Every rouble by which we cut Kremlin revenues diminishes Putin’s ability to sow chaos, division and disorder across the world and protects the British people, increasing security and prosperity at home.
As the Prime Minister set out at the European Political Community summit on Friday, people in Ukraine and across the world have paid the price for Putin’s aggression and now he must pay the price for avoiding peace.