The British government on Tuesday announced dozens of additional sanctions targeting the Kremlin’s shadow fleet of oil tankers and a shell company linked to Russian intelligence suspected of procuring Western technology for its war on Ukraine.
The U.K. is also tightening the net around those suspected of enabling Moscow’s illicit oil trade by further sanctioning ship insurers and other seafaring services, officials said.
“These sanctions target the vessels, the money and the actors propping up Russia’s war economy, and in turn, threatening European security,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “Working with our G7 allies, we will continue to increase the pressure on Putin and his circle of collaborators until Russia’s war machine is brought to a halt and peace returns to our continent.”
The U.K. is the first G7 country to sanction liquefied natural gas vessels recently acquired by Russia to service Moscow’s Arctic LNG-2 project. Officials said the project is responsible for exporting tons of LNG to source “dirty” revenue for the Kremlin.
Sanctions on Russia’s Arctic LNG-2 terminal are hurting the country’s finances. It exported only 1.3 million tons of LNG in 2025 despite having a capacity to export more than 13.5 million tons a year, officials said.
Britain is also targeting a Russian military intelligence network operating through a front company identified as LLC Neptune Co. Ltd. The U.K. identified 10 members of Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, suspected of illicitly acquiring military technology needed to sustain Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, officials said.
“Several organizations helping Russia illegally move money, bypassing Western sanctions, are also targeted, including one entity in Nigeria supporting the illicit finance network A7’s sanctions evasion scheme,” British officials said in a statement.
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