UK to crack down on British shipping, insurers aiding Russian oil exports: Report

London [UK], November 13 (ANI): The United Kingdom will ban British shipping firms and insurers from facilitating the export of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of new sanctions to choke Moscow's fossil fuel revenues, Politico reported.
According to the Politico report, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the measures on Tuesday (local time) during a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Niagara, Canada.
The UK had already banned the import of Russian LNG in 2023.
However, Politico's report added that British firms have continued to provide maritime and insurance services for tankers carrying Russian LNG nearly four years after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
The new ban will be phased in during 2026 and is part of coordinated action with the European Union.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the measure aligns with the EU's latest sanctions package, which will prohibit imports of Russian LNG under long-term contracts by January 1, 2027, and sooner for short-term deals, Politico reported
The publication, in its report, also noted that the timeline means British firms will still be able to handle LNG shipments bound for Europe until the EU's import ban takes effect.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, Europe's pipeline gas supply from Russia declined sharply, but LNG imports transported by sea rose to record levels.
Citing a campaign group, Politico reported that one British company, Seapeak Maritime Glasgow Ltd, was identified by Razom We Stand as having facilitated around four million tonnes of LNG cargoes from Yamal LNG, Russia's Siberian export terminal, in the first half of 2025. This accounted for about 39 per cent of total shipments during that period.
The Yamal terminal is the main export route for gas heading to Europe and is partly owned by TotalEnergies, the French fossil fuel company.
Politico added that TotalEnergies' UK subsidiary supplies gas to the British public sector under an 8 billion pound contract. However, gas under this contract is procured on the domestic market, where the presence of Russian gas is unlikely. TotalEnergies has confirmed it complies with the UK's Russian LNG import ban.
Svitlana Romanko, founder and executive director of Razom We Stand, welcomed the move, saying, "As missiles and drones continue to devastate Ukraine daily, the U.K. government's move to impose a maritime services ban on Russian LNG is a long-overdue and welcome step. Cutting off U.K. maritime support for Russian LNG exports will choke the revenues fuelling Putin's brutal war machine, revenues that have sustained atrocities from the start."
The UK government is also providing an additional 13 million pounds to help repair Ukraine's energy network, which has suffered repeated Russian attacks throughout the conflict.
It is not the first time the UK has acted against Russia's maritime network linked to energy exports.
On June 13, 2024, the UK imposed its first sanctions on vessels in Putin's so-called "shadow fleet", which were used to secretly transport Russian oil and bypass UK and G7 restrictions, the Goverment of UK said in an earlier statement.
The move sought to disrupt and increase the cost of Russia's attempts to evade international sanctions through covert maritime operations connected to its oil and LNG trade.
The sanctions also targeted suppliers of munitions, machine tools, microelectronics, and logistics supporting Russia's military, including entities based in China, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkiye, as well as ships transporting military goods from North Korea to Russia. (ANI)