On Thursday, the British government announced a fresh round of penalties, including additional import restrictions and high taxes on Russian goods. Import prohibitions on silver, wood items, and high-end Russian commodities, including caviar, are among the most recent measures.
The measure aims to increase pressure on Russia’s collapsing economy as President Vladimir Putin intensifies his invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its ninth week.
The UK department for international trade said that tariffs on about £130 million worth of imports from Russia and Belarus, including diamonds and rubber, will increase by 35 percentage points.
“The UK continues to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine and is working closely with our international partners to inflict maximum damage on Putin’s regime, reducing the resources and funds he needs to carry out this illegal war,” International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said in a statement announcing the sanctions.
“We’re using every chance we have to ratchet up the pressure on Russia’s economy, and these new sanctions will tighten the screws even more, cutting off lucrative financing sources for Putin’s war machine.”
The “substantial measures,” according to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, would increase the UK’s total import duties and bans on Russian products to nearly £1 billion, “inflicting extra economic hardship on Putin’s economy for his savage and unjustifiable attacks on a sovereign nation.”
Many iron and steel items from Russia and Belarus have previously been prohibited in the UK, as have some luxury goods exports to Russia.
Sanctions imposed last month prohibited the transfer to Russia of luxury automobiles, designer apparel and accessories, precious stones, and pieces of art valued hundreds of millions of pounds.
The action was made with the intention of depriving Russian oligarchs and other members of the country’s elite of their high-end goods.
Import duties on items worth more than £900 million, including Russian vodka, have also struck Russia.
The additional trade restrictions follow the UK government’s announcement earlier this week of 26 new sanctions targeting “defence players” in the Ukraine conflict, including military generals and defence businesses.
The newest wave of sanctions was imposed in reaction to Russia’s “continuing campaign of aggression in Ukraine” and its renewed assault on the eastern territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to the Foreign Office.
It stated evidence indicated that civilian infrastructure, like as hospitals, schools, and transportation, was being purposefully attacked in the severely besieged city of Mariupol.
