Update: UK Government announces new Russia sanctions

On 06 April 2022, the UK Government announced a new package of economic sanctions against Russia. Building on the approach previously taken, the sanctions target business elites, banks and strategic industries, including iron and steel.

Additionally, the Government has announced measures to undermine the capabilities of the Russian energy sector and has committed to ending all dependence on Russian oil and coal by the end of 2022, with imports of Russian gas to end as soon as possible thereafter.

The measures are said to “have been delivered in lockstep” with the UK’s allies, given the EU’s proposed ban on the import of Russian coal and the US’s sanctioning of SberBank.

Key sanctions in the package include:

1. the imposition of asset freezes on Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, and the Credit Bank of Moscow
2. an outright ban on all new outward investment into Russia
3. a commitment to end all dependency on Russian coal and oil by 2022, with a view to phasing out imports of Russian gas subsequently
4. a ban on the export of key oil refining equipment and catalysts, to take effect from next week
5. actions against key Russian strategic industries and state-owned enterprises, including a ban on imports of iron and steel products
6. sanctions against a further eight individuals active in strategic industries

The eight new individuals targeted by sanctions are:

1. Viatcheslav (Moshe) Kantor, the largest shareholder of fertilizer company Acron
2. Andrey Guryev, a known associate of Vladimir Putin and founder of fertilizer company PhosAgro
3. Sergey Kogogin, the director of truck and bus manufacturing company Kamaz
4. Sergey Sergeyevich Ivanov, President of the world’s largest diamond producer Alrosa
5. Leonid Mikhelson, the founder and CEO of Russian natural gas producer Novatek
6. Andrey Akimov, the CEO of Russia’s third largest bank Gazprombank
7. Aleksander Dyukov, the CEO of Russia’s third largest and majority state-owned oil producer GazpromNeft
8. Boris Borisovich Rotenberg, the son of the co-owner of Russia’s largest gas pipeline producer SGM

The Government press release can be found here.

The relevant notices and legislation can be found here (notice), here, and here.