Britain suspects 37 firms of complicity in Russia's oil sanctions circumvention - BBC
Kyiv • UNN
The UK government is investigating 37 companies suspected of complicity in Russia's oil sanctions circumvention. So far, no firm has been punished, and the investigation has been ongoing since December 2022.
The British government is investigating 37 British-linked firms suspected of complicity in Russia's oil sanctions circumvention, but no one has been punished so far, the BBC reports, citing information it has received, UNN reports.
Details
In December 2022, the Group of Seven countries, later joined by other states, imposed an embargo on Russian oil imports by sea and a price ceiling on Russian oil of $60 per barrel. That is, companies in these countries are prohibited from trading in Russian oil, for example, insuring cargo, if the selling price of a barrel is more than $60.
The BBC reportedly requested and received a response that the UK Treasury had opened an investigation into 52 companies suspected of violating the ban since December 2022.
By August of this year, investigations into 15 cases had been completed, while the remaining 37 cases were still under investigation. At the same time, no fines have been issued to anyone.
The UK Treasury does not disclose the names of these companies.
Cases of alleged sanctions circumvention are investigated by a special unit of the Ministry, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI). In March of this year, OFSI received an additional 50 million pounds (about $65 million) to enforce the sanctions regime.
Louis Wilson, Head of Oil Investigations at Global Witness, an anti-corruption organization, is outraged that the British Treasury has not yet punished anyone for complicity in the circumvention of sanctions and calls on the government to act more decisively.
"If the UK government puts an end to the involvement of British firms in Putin's speculation, I think others will follow suit," Wilson told the BBC.
The country's Ministry of Finance explains that such investigations are quite complex and therefore take a long time, and Louis Wilson admits that firms can quite easily "suddenly discover" documents that prove their innocence.
According to Wilson, the United States does not want to tighten sanctions enforcement because it fears that the disappearance of a large share of Russian oil from the world market will lead to higher prices.
The US administration is proving that sanctions are working to some extent: Russia has long been forced to sell oil at a discount of about 17%.
A spokesperson for the British Treasury added to this in a commentary to the BBC that, according to the Russian Ministry of Finance, oil tax revenues fell by 30% in 2023 compared to 2022.
Harriet Baldwin, shadow deputy foreign secretary and Conservative MP, told the BBC that she had information that suppliers and British buyers were circumventing the price ceiling by sending Russian oil first for refining in third countries and then importing oil products to Britain.
