The United Kingdom, in coordination with G7 partners, has announced a fresh round of sanctions aimed at choking off Russia’s war funding by targeting its energy sector, maritime operations, and financial enablers. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the move ahead of the G7 summit’s conclusion on June 17.
The new measures include:
- Asset freezes and travel bans on four individuals and six Russian entities involved in energy and shipping.
- A blacklist of 20 additional vessels, including oil tankers from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”—a network of aging ships used to export oil while evading sanctions.
Targeting firms such as Orion Star Group and Rosneft Marine (UK), key facilitators in the clandestine oil trade.
Sanctions on two UK residents, Vladimir Pristoupa and Olech Tkacz, accused of running a shell-company network supplying over $120 million in high-tech components to Russian industries.
Starmer emphasized the goal is to “squeeze Russia’s energy revenues and reduce the funds they are able to pour into their illegal war,” describing the sanctions as aimed at crippling Putin’s war apparatus.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the targeted crackdown on the shadow fleet as a strategy to “systematically dismantle Putin’s dangerous shadow fleet, starve his war machine, and support Ukraine to defend itself.” He added that the UK is coordinating with G7 partners to extend this pressure.
Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 2,300 individuals, entities, and ships—a figure Starmer cited as evidence of sustained efforts to isolate Russia economically.
