Trade sanctions against Russia continue to be announced by governments around the world as Russian troops advance into Ukraine.
G7 leaders met on Thursday (24 February) to issue a condemnation of Russian “aggression” and said it was “bringing forward severe and coordinated economic and financial sanctions”.
However EU leaders shunned a plea from Ukraine to remove Russia from the SWIFT global payments system, much to the anger of Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, reports the Guardian.
In the face of growing sanctions, Russia will expand trade with Asia to minimise economic effects, reports Reuters.
United Kingdom
Prime minister Boris Johnson on Thursday promised the “largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen”. Those sanctions include:
- Asset freezes on Russian banks, named individuals, companies and hundreds of members of Russia’s legislative body, the Duma
- Payments: the PM said his ministers would work with G7 and NATO allies to close Russia’s access to the SWIFT global payment system, used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries, according to Sky.com
- Travel bans have also been introduced for individuals on the list, including Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire and Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law, reports the Guardian
- Mutual ban on flights: A ban on Russian national airline Aeroflot using UK airspace and airports was announced on Thursday and in retaliation today (Friday 25 February) Russia’s civil aviation authority has banned UK flights to and over Russia
- Suspension of dual-use export licences to Russia for items that could have a military
or civilian use
United States
Forbes reports that US president Joe Biden outlined new sanctions against Russia including “severe” restrictions on Russian banks and access to Western technology, while deploying more troops to Germany to bolster NATO. US sanctions include:
- A block on Russia’s two largest banks, Sberban and VTB Bank - which combined make up more than half of the total banking system in Russia by asset value - from processing payments through the US financial system
- Like the UK and other European allies, the US is prohibiting a range of hi-tech imports and exports, and the export of equipment connected to extracting oil and gas
- Block on 13 major Russian companies from raising money in the US
- Measures targeting Russian elites, outlined here by the US government
European Union
The EU has imposed what it called a “massive and painful” package of economic sanctions on individuals and entities who played a role in “undermining Ukrainian sovereignty”, but has shied away from imposing all-out sanctions, according to Politico.
A European Commission spokesman said: “When it comes to the sequencing of packages, we have always said we have a massive package prepared and we will be applying this package in a progressive way, responding to concrete actions by Russia, and we are not at the end.”
- Asset freeze: According to the FT, the EU is planning to freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov under the sanctions package being pushed through today
- Proposals to freeze some transactions with a wide range of Russian banks, to bar a number of state-owned companies from launching listings on stock exchanges in the bloc and stop Russian nationals from making big deposits in EU banks
- But EU ‘no’ to shutting Russia out of SWIFT: Reuters reports French finance minister Bruno Le Maire saying the EU wanted to cut Russia off from the world’s financial system and that removing it from SWIFT was “the last option, but it’s one of the options that remains on the table”
- Third sanctions package: A spokesman for the German government said discussions over a third package of EU sanctions are underway, reports the Telegraph
Australia and New Zealand
- Targeting Russian elites: Reuters reports Australia announcing today (Friday 25 February) that fresh sanctions will be placed against "oligarchs whose economic weight is of strategic significance to Moscow" and over 300 members of the Russian parliament who voted to authorise sending Russian troops into Ukraine
- Australia is also working with NATO to provide Ukraine with non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies
- New Zealand has imposed targeted travel bans on Russia and prohibited goods trade to its military
Taiwan
- Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, will comply with export restrictions on sending chips to Russia. The Biden administration and EU’s call for sanctions against Russia will jeopardise its ability to buy semiconductors
and other technology, reports Yahoo.
According to Taiwan News, Russia accounted for between 30% and 70% of the global production of raw materials used for semiconductors, lasers and other elements in electronic products such as palladium, neon, nitrogen and xenon.
Japan
- Measures targeting the export of semiconductors
- Asset freeze on key Russian financial institutions
- Visa suspensions for elite Russian individuals
Department of International Trade advice
- Traders need to check if their product is on the export ban list which can be found in the Russian Sanctions here
- There is a suspension of dual-use goods. Traders can assess their products to determine whether or not they are controlled and are subject to this suspension here
- Consular support is available to British nationals in Ukraine and Russia:
- Ukraine: https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-kyiv
- Russia: https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-moscow - Get the latest government notifications on export controls by signing up to the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) e-alert service: Notice to Exporters e-alerts https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKECO/subscriber/new
