The Government keeps potential sanctions designations under close and regular review; it is not appropriate to speculate on future sanctions as this could reduce their impact.

The UK is committed to ensuring that our sanctions are robustly enforced, potential breaches are investigated and appropriate action is taken.

Departments from across His Majesty's Government are working together and with UK companies to ensure that sanctions are enforced, including through criminal prosecution and civil enforcement. Departments and Agencies with responsibility for criminal enforcement of sanctions refer appropriate cases to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration

The launch of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) under DBT will enhance guidance and engagement with industry, as well as civil enforcement of trade sanctions, including those on services. The Government also announced a new Economic Deterrence Initiative in the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh. With funding of up to £50 million over two years, the initiative is maximising the impact of our trade, transport and financial sanctions, and improving implementation and enforcement including by cracking down on evasion. Through these funds HMG is recruiting more civil and criminal investigators to bear down on people and businesses in breach of sanctions.

We are steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine. We have implemented the most severe package of sanctions ever imposed on a major economy to undermine Russia's war effort. On 19 May, the UK announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting businesses and individuals connected to Russia's capacity to fund and wage the war. We do not comment on future or individual designations, but those responsible for atrocities committed during the war must be held to account. We are doing all we can to support this.

Since the start of the invasion, the UK has sanctioned over 1,600 individuals and entities, including 29 banks with global assets worth £1 trillion, and over 140 oligarchs with a combined net worth of over £145 billion. We work in close coordination with international partners on sanctions. As President Zelensky said during his visit, we have formed a "powerful sanctions coalition", unleashing the largest and most severe package of sanctions ever imposed on a major economy. Working with our allies, the UK remains committed to ratcheting up the pressure on Russia until a just peace is achieved in Ukraine.

In December 2022, the Government introduced new sanctions which specifically prohibit UK persons from providing trust services to or for the benefit of designated individuals or persons connected with Russia.

In addition, last year the government introduced the Register of Overseas Entities through the Economic Crime, Transparency and Enforcement Act. The register collects information on the beneficial owners of trusts who own UK property. This information, alongside that in HMRC’s register of UK trusts is made available to UK law enforcement agencies. This gives law enforcement the tools it needs to identify and prevent criminals who may wish to use trusts operating in the UK to launder money.

The Government will continue to keep our response under review to ensure that as illicit finance threats evolve, our ability to respond effectively does too.

The Joint Maritime Security Centre provides Department for Transport officials with regular vessel tracking reports for Russian-linked commercial ships thought to be heading towards the UK Marine Area, including where Russia is identified as the country of beneficial ownership. This monitoring is not limited to Russian-flagged vessels, but all registries, where a Russian link is identified.

Department for Transport officials maintain close contact with the maritime industry to assist the port sector in undertaking their own due diligence. Government support has included the publication of six versions of industry guidance and regular intelligence reports containing Ships of Potential Interest, which are those identified as having a potential Russian connection. The legal duty under the Russia (Sanctions)(EU Exit) Regulations 2019, as amended (the Regulations) remains with UK ports to reach an assessment as to whether they know or have reasonable cause to suspect that a ship falls within scope of the port ban.

The prohibition on UK port entry in the Regulations applies to certain ships including “a ship owned, controlled, chartered or operated by persons connected with Russia”. The definition of a person “connected with Russia” includes but is not limited to individuals who are “ordinarily resident in Russia” or “located in Russia”, or companies that are “incorporated or constituted under the law of Russia” or “domiciled in Russia”.

At the start of the conflict, at least twenty-eight ships were knowingly frustrated by the UK sanctions, having been refused entry by ports; diverted by their owner or operator; or having changed their ownership or operational structures to ensure compliance. We have now seen a wholesale change in Russian shipping activity which has seen an extensive reduction in the number of Russian-linked ships transiting UK waters and no recent attempts by such ships to enter UK ports.

In Jan-22, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) had 42.15 active staff. OFSI is expecting to at least double in size over the next financial year to around 100 staff. These roles will be at all levels of the organisation across both London and Darlington.

The government has announced the strongest set of economic sanctions ever imposed against a major economy, to help cripple Putin’s war machine. These measures have been implemented in coordination with our international allies and include a comprehensive set of actions targeting imports on a range of Russian military, energy-sector and revenue generating goods.

Such measures include the prohibition of all imports consigned from or originating in non-government controlled Ukrainian territory. This means that even if the immediate location the goods were shipped from was not non-government controlled Ukrainian territory, the prohibition would still apply.

Enforcement of sanctions as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine falls outside the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

HMRC is responsible for enforcement of UK Trade Sanctions and Strategic Export controls and works closely with Border Force to conduct customs checks and where necessary, seize goods at the port. Since my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s announcement in the House of Commons on 24 February 2022 of increased sanctions on Russia, HMRC has implemented a number of measures which aim to prevent the exportation and importation of restricted goods.

HMRC has a range of enforcement options available such as awareness through outreach, warning letters, issuing compound penalties, seizures / disruptions and in the most serious of cases, referral to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration for prosecution. HMRC works with other government departments and international partners to assist in identifying high-risk movements.

In close coordination with our allies, we continue to engage extensively with countries across the world to urge them to support our effort to deprive Putin's war machine of the goods and services it needs to continue its illegal invasion. This includes countries which do not impose autonomous sanctions. In addition to banning the direct export of hundreds of goods to Russia, we have also prohibited UK persons from directly or indirectly supplying these goods from a third country to Russia.

The UK, along with its allies, have introduced severe sanctions against Russia's defence industry. This includes prohibitions on the export, supply and delivery, and making available of restricted goods, including unmanned aircraft, to Russia. Sanctions against Kronshtadt, the main producer of Kronshtadt Orion drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles widely used during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, will make it harder to replace these drones. We will continue this pressure against Putin and his regime, until Ukraine prevails or Putin's ends his war of choice. It is not appropriate to speculate on specific future designations. To do this could reduce the impact of the designations.

The Home Office welcomes the announcement on the Combatting Kleptocracy Cell in the National Crime Agency which will focus on corrupt elites laundering their assets within the UK, including through supporting work on criminal sanctions enforcement. The NCA has already surged additional officers to support existing efforts and the Home Office will support the unit to drive forwards what are inevitably complex and lengthy operations.

The Spending Review 2021 settlement and the Economic Crime Levy represent an overall package of circa £400 million to tackle economic crime over the next three years, including support for the NCA’s National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and law enforcement.

The Government has implemented multiple prohibitions on the export of energy-related goods and services to Russia, including on supply and delivery via third countries. The Government works routinely with both international partners and industry representatives to ensure sanctions are robustly enforced. The Government continues regular engagement with representatives from the oil and gas industry, including official level bilaterally and ministerially chaired monthly meetings of the Oil Taskforce, ensuring that industry is ready to comply with the ban on imports of all Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.

The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) cannot comment on specific licensing or compliance cases. Financial sanctions apply to all assets owned, held or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a designated person including property assets. OFSI is responsible for implementing UK sanctions and takes its licensing and enforcement responsibilities very seriously, including in relation to property assets. Where a property is subject to an asset freeze it can only be dealt with under a licence issued by OFSI and any suspected breaches must be reported to OFSI and are investigated. Where appropriate, breaches of financial sanctions can result in the imposition of a civil monetary penalty.

HMG has been clear that there would be consequences and a severe cost for any Russian military incursion into Ukraine and, in coordination with our international allies and partners, have developed an unprecedented package of sanctions. These sanctions apply to all persons present in the UK, as well as UK persons wherever they are in the world.

We have made clear to representatives of UK based airlines that people who are sanctioned as a result of the conflict in Ukraine should not utilise those airlines’ services anywhere in the world. We will continue to reiterate this message through our regular engagement with the industry.

We do not speculate on future sanctions. However, we have made clear that we will continue to increase pressure on Putin's regime to ensure he is unable to fuel his barbaric war machine. Nothing and no one is off the table. We have now sanctioned over 1400 individuals, entities and subsidiaries since Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The ultimate objective is to ensure that Putin fails in Ukraine. The whole of the UK government, along with our international allies, is working to ensure that happens.

We do not speculate on future sanctions, but have made clear that we will continue to ratchet up the pressure on Putin. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine we have announced an unprecedented package of sanctions. We have sanctioned over 1400 individuals and businesses since the invasion. UK sanctions apply to any individual or entity in the UK, and to any UK individual or entity globally. The UK's sanctions therefore apply to multinationals' UK operations, as well as any relevant economic activity involving a UK person.

The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 which came into force on the 1st of March prevents all UK persons from buying new issuances of Russian stocks, regardless of which market they are listed on and any new issuances of Russian Sovereign Debt.

With our allies we have introduced the most significant economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced and they are having an impact. The Moscow Stock Exchange was closed for an unprecedented 4 weeks from 25th February to 24th March. It has been partially re-opened but restrictions remain on activities, particularly for foreign participants. The stock exchange remains more than 20% lower than in mid-February.

We are working with international partners to strengthen the response to conflict-related sexual violence. We have worked with partners to refer the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court, to establish a Commission of Inquiry through the UN Human Rights Council and, with the support of Ukraine, the OSCE Mission of Experts.

We condemn the Russian atrocities in Mariupol, including attacks on schools sheltering civilians and the abduction and deportation of Ukrainians. Russia's use of indiscriminate force against civilians in its illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine amounts to war crimes, and the Putin regime must be held accountable for the devastation and destruction it has inflicted on the people of Ukraine.

We continue to hold the Russian Government to account. We have announced an unprecedented package of sanctions targeting over 1400 individuals and businesses since Putin's invasion. We will continue to apply this pressure against Russia, in coordination with allies, through further waves of sanctions.

In coordination with our allies, we are introducing the largest and most severe economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced. We do not speculate on future sanctions.