Britain has launched a new trade sanctions enforcement unit with enhanced powers to prosecute companies that breach bans on exporting services to Russia. About this informs Reuters.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Britain has already imposed more than $26 billion in sanctions. Now a new body, called the Office of Trade Sanctions Enforcement (OTSI), will enforce the sanctions against British companies.
Business and Trade Minister Jonathan Reynolds stressed that OTSI would play a key role in enforcing the sanctions and, where necessary, would take strong action against violators.
“This unit will help us, together with business, continue to put pressure on the Putin regime,” Reynolds said.
OTSI has been empowered to impose fines on companies that violate the sanctions and to publish information about such violations. In addition, the new unit will focus on the enforcement of sanctions in professional and business services, while the export and import of goods will remain under the control of the existing structures.
An important innovation is that OTSI will also be able to investigate the activities of British nationals who breach sanctions, even if they work outside the country, expanding the capabilities of the UK sanctions regime.
Sanctions against Russia The other day, Great Britain introduced new sanctions against Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces and their leader, Igor Kirillov, due to the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
In addition, Britain for the first time imposed sanctions on the vessels of the so-called “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation, which, according to its estimates, is used by Russia to circumvent Western restrictions on oil exports. The list of sanctions included 11 sea vessels, in particular “Zatoka Amurska” and “SKF Pechora”, which carried out the transportation of Russian oil to third countries.
