UK ramps up sanctions against Russian shadow fleet, crypto industry, big oil
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Editor's note: this article was updated with further details provided in a U.K. government press statement released after this article was first published.
The U.K. published 38 new sanctions listings on Oct. 8, targeting ships helping Russia evade existing sanctions and a range of companies in Moscow's military-industrial complex, energy, and cryptocurrency sectors.
"The message is simple: if you help Russia fund or equip this war, you will face the consequences," reads a U.K. government press release.
Among the businesses in the new sanctions listings are three cryptocurrency exchanges and two payment platforms.
Xeltox Enterprises, one of those listed entities has "been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the government of Russia by carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance (...) the financial services sector," reads the U.K. government's sanctions listing.
Russia has increasingly sought to use cryptocurrency, which is hard to track, to circumvent global sanctions, and the new U.K. sanctions target the "A7" network, which is at the heart of Moscow's attempts to evade financial sanctions.
That has prompted the U.K., the U.S., the EU, and Ukraine to target crypto schemes in recent sanctions packages.
Also featuring on the listings are two further oil companies: Zarubezhneft and INK Capital.
"The U.K. was the first country in the G7 to sanction the top four Russian oil companies," reads the press statement.
The U.K. has also added 12 ships to its list of sanctioned vessels accused of being part of Russia's shadow fleet — dilapidated vessels suspected of helping Moscow evade price caps and bans on its trade in oil and gas.
That takes the number of ships sanctioned by the U.K. to 645 and the total number of Russia sanctions to 3,537.
