UK sanctions Russia, exposes top spies working for Kremlin
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced Friday that the U.K. is "getting tougher" in the face of Putin's "hybrid threats and aggression."
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy
On Friday, the U.K. slapped Russia with the biggest sanctions in its history aimed at unmasking several operatives working for Vladimir Putin.
The unprecedented package has named 18 spies and three units of the military intelligence agency (GRU) responsible for criminal acts committed under orders from the Kremlin.
According to a report by The Daily Mail, those sanctioned include Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev and his unit 26165 of GRU, which hacked the emails of Yulia Skripal years before poisoning her and her father, former spy Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced Friday that the U.K. is "taking action" in the face of Putin's "hybrid war."
Lammy claimed on X that "Russian spies are trying to destabili[z]e Europe, undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens."
"Today we are exposing this activity and sanctioning those responsible," the British foreign secretary asserted.
The Russian spies named also include those involved in the Russian bombing of Mariupol Theater in Ukraine, in which some 600 civilians were killed in 2022.
Additionally, the U.K. also sanctioned the leaders of Russia's African Initiative, a social media content factory that spreads conspiracy theories in West Africa.
"Europe is getting tougher. But these sanctions are not just a sign. They restrict the movements and financial access of those responsible for the evil activities of the GRU.... We will not cower before those who seek to harm us. The agents of the GRU may hide behind screens and shadows, but we see them clearly and we will act decisively to stop them," Lammy said.
The UK previously sanctioned Russia in February.
Some of these sanctions included:
- Forty "shadow fleet" vessels carrying Russian oil. Collectively, in the last six months prior to the sanctions, these vessels carried Russian oil and petroleum products worth more than $5 billion. The total number of tankers sanctioned by the UK amounted to 133, the highest of all European countries.
- Fourteen "new kleptocrats" were also sanctioned, some of whom run strategic sectors of the Russian economy. Among them is Roman Trotsenko, one of Russia's richest men, with a fortune of nearly $3 billion.
"Every military supply line disrupted, every ruble blocked and every facilitator of Putin's aggression unmasked is a step toward a just and lasting peace, and toward security and prosperity in the United Kingdom as part of this government's Plan for Change," Lammy asserted following the sanctions package.
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