Britain has expanded sanctions on Russia’s oil industry to cover more than 90 percent of Russian oil production capacity, the UK government said, in a package of 38 targets announced on October 8. The new listings add oil companies Zarubezhneft and INK Capital, following earlier action against Rosneft and Lukoil, plus 12 more shadow fleet tankers, taking the UK total of sanctioned shadow fleet vessels above 600.
The package also reaches into finance and military supply: three cryptocurrency exchanges, two payment platforms and a person linked to transactions, several connected to Kyrgyzstan and to the A7 network that Britain says moved more than 90 billion dollars last year, plus 17 further targets supplying machine tools, electronics and other inputs to Russian missile and drone production.
The timing sets London against Washington. The Trump administration is considering easing restrictions on sanctioned tankers to bring down record freight rates, Reuters reported, while Britain’s finance minister called on Thursday for tougher international restrictions on maritime services supporting the shadow fleet. Even if US relief comes, UK and European insurance and services bans would still apply to the same vessels.