UK Looking to Expand Sanctions on Russia-Related Services, UK Official says

The U.K. is looking to expand its Russia sanctions to target additional services in a bid to further damage the country’s military and economy, said Ros Lynch, the U.K.’s deputy director for sanctions policy. Lynch, speaking during the EU’s annual export control forum this week, said the U.K. already has imposed restrictions on some legal advisory, engineering and consulting services (see 2210030016) but said more needs to be done, including by other G-7 countries.

“We have done a lot of work in terms of goods,” Lynch said. “It's not just [about] cutting off the goods, but also ensuring that [Russia] can’t continue to procure some of the services that it has been procuring from G-7 countries.”

Lynch said the U.K. “this month” will “lay another set of legislation which would target a number of other services” to make sure “we're not continuing to support the government or business in Russia that is supporting the military action against Ukraine.” The U.K. will increase its restrictions so its “companies are not involved in any way in providing anything into Russia.”

Although the U.S. has touted the success of Western sanctions and export controls against Russia (see 2206100027 and 2208250015), Lynch said Russia is in a recession, but “we don't see that the whole economy will collapse in the short term.” Russia has been able to earn revenue “through other sources,” she said, including through its oil sales.

“For us, it's about looking beyond just the goods and trying to see if there are other ways that we can also damage the economy so they don't have the money to buy other goods and services from somewhere else,” Lynch said.