British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives for G7, Ukraine and NATO Working Breakfast Session V in the course of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta, Canada, on June 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
The U.Ok. on Tuesday (June 17, 2025) tightened its sanctions on Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, imposing bans on 20 extra ships and blacklisting 10 different folks or our bodies concerned in vitality and transport.
Security analysts say the fleet of ageing vessels is utilized by Russia to avoid worldwide sanctions that ban it from promoting oil.
Hundreds of vessels have now been sanctioned by the European Union and the U.Ok. since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The U.Ok.’s new additions to its belongings freeze record embrace the Orion Star group and Rosneft Marine (U.Ok.), each stated to be important to Russia’s vitality sector, in addition to the deep-sea analysis unit on the Russian defence ministry.
Two U.Ok. residents, Vladimir Pristoupa and Olech Tkacz, had been additionally sanctioned, accused of working a shadowy community of shell firms that London stated has funnelled greater than $120 million of high-tech electronics to Russia.
Although Russia’s financial system has not collapsed underneath the sanctions, officers say they’re having an influence.
“These sanctions strike right at the heart of Mr. Putin’s war machine, choking off his ability to continue his barbaric war in Ukraine,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated in a press release.
“We will not hesitate to keep tightening the screws,” he stated.
Downing Street insisted that “Russia’s economy is slowing”, saying sanctions “have deprived Russia of at least $450 billion”.
“By one estimate, that’s equivalent to around two more years of funding for the invasion,” it added.
The U.Ok. alone has sanctioned over 2,300 people, entities and ships for the reason that begin of the invasion.
Mr. Starmer stated he needed to hone the new sanctions with Britain’s G7 companions assembly this week in Canada.
“We should take this moment to increase economic pressure and show President Putin it is in his – and Russia’s interests – to demonstrate he is serious about peace.”
With peace talks stalling, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped to press U.S. President Donald Trump to step up sanctions on Russia on the G7 summit.
But because the battle between Iran and Israel escalated, Mr. Trump left the summit early with out assembly Mr. Zelenskyy, saying he had “big stuff” to do in Washington. And he has proved reluctant about new sanctions.
The EU has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions on Russia.
Downing Street stated “new information” confirmed that Western sanctions had been creating “significant challenges” for Russian state enterprises, together with funding shortfalls, delays in main initiatives, and rising debt on account of excessive rates of interest.
Foreign Minister David Lammy stated the new U.Ok. sanctions “show we will systematically dismantle his (Mr. Putin’s) dangerous shadow fleet, starve his war machine, and support Ukraine to defend itself”.
Published – June 18, 2025 02:20 am IST