Russia ‘scavenging vital chips from fridges’ as UK sanctions ‘top £18bn’

The UK government has said that ‘new figures’ show that its sanctions on Russia have led to £18bn being frozen and reported to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (‘OFSI’). This, it said, ‘is around £6 billion more than held across all other UK sanctions regimes.’

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith said, ‘As staunch defenders of democracy, the UK is united with its allies in opposition to Russia’s barbaric and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We have imposed the most severe sanctions ever on Russia and it is crippling their war machine.

‘To make sure we are doing all we can to keep the pressure on Putin’s corrupt cronies we are more than doubling OFSI’s headcount. Our message is clear: we will not allow Putin to succeed in this brutal war.’

Fellow minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said, ‘Despite the Russian regime’s attempts to firefight, GDP is predicted to decline by up to 6.2% in 2022 when compared to pre-invasion forecasts, and decline a further 2.3% in 2023. 60% of Russia’s foreign reserves have been immobilised, Russia’s exports have plummeted, and imports of critical goods have dropped by 68% from sanctioning countries.’ Trevelyan added that such actions are having ‘a major impact on the Russian military complex – vital semiconductors are now being scavenged from fridges and soviet-era equipment is being sent to the front line.’

 

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Russia ‘scavenging vital chips from fridges’ as UK sanctions ‘top £18bn’