Sanctions against Russia
34 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 March 2023
The Government has also established a cross-departmental Oligarch
Taskforce to "coordinate cross-government work to sanction oligarchs,
helping build cases against the list of oligarchs it has identified as targets".
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Targeting disinformation
In addition to those individuals already identified above, the UK has
announced that it will target Russian media, propagandists and regime
spokespeople accused of spreading disinformation. Several of those
individuals are already sanctioned under EU and US regimes and are being
sanctioned under powers provided by the Economic Crime (Transparency and
Enforcement) Act 2022.
Of note, on 15 March the UK sanctioned Dmitry Peskov, President Putin's Press
Secretary, Maria Zakharova, Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the Internet Research Agency, which has been described as "a
notorious internet troll farm".
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On 31 March the Foreign Secretary announced a new set of sanctions aimed at
Russian propagandists and state media "who spread lies and deceit about
Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine".
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Of note are TV Novosti, which owns RT
(formerly Russia Today)
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and Rossiya Segodnya, which controls news agency
Sputnik. Sergey Brilev, an anchor on Rossiya who has previously lived in the
UK, is also sanctioned, along with the CEO of Gazprom Media, Alexsandr
Zharov, the Managing Director of RT, Alexey Nikolov and the Head of Sputnik
International Broadcasting, Anton Anisimov. Seven individuals associated
with the Strategic Culture Foundation, who were recently sanctioned by
Australia, have also now been designated by the UK.
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On 4 May more individuals and entities were sanctioned for spreading
disinformation and justifying "Putin's illegal invasion as a 'special military
operation'".
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Among them are journalists embedded with Russian forces in
Ukraine, several individuals at Channel One, a major state-owned media
outlet in Russia, and "propaganda organisations" including Russia State
Television and Radio Broadcasting, InfoRos, SouthFront and the Strategic
Culture Foundation.
127
Several individuals associated with SouthFront and
other organisations accused of spreading disinformation including online new
site, United World International, were sanctioned on 4 July 2022.
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121
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Press release, 3 March 2022
122
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Press release, 15 March 2022
123
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Press release, 31 March 2022
124
Ofcom revoked RT's broadcasting licence in the UK on 18 March 2022. This is examined in greater
detail in House of Commons Library briefing, Countering Russian influence in the UK
125
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Press release, 31 March 2022
126
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Press release, 4 May 2022
127
HM Treasury, Financial Sanctions Notice, 4 May 2022
128
HM Treasury, Financial Sanctions Notice, 4 July 2022
