Britain moved to curb the supply of military and other vital equipment for the Russian war effort in Ukraine by expanding sanctions on Tuesday to include 22 individuals and companies based outside Russia.
The new measures will affect businesses in Turkey, Dubai and Iran and target Slovakian and Swiss nationals that Britain says have supplied weaponry or components, including electronics, needed to sustain Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Today’s landmark sanctions will further diminish Russia’s arsenal and close the net on supply chains propping up Putin’s now struggling defense industry,” Britain’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said in a statement. “There is nowhere for those sustaining Russia’s military machine to hide.”
Britain has already imposed sanctions on 1,612 individuals and 229 entities in an effort to isolate Russia economically, but it says the latest measures are its biggest action yet against military suppliers beyond the country’s frontiers.
In its statement the British Foreign Office said that the Russian defense industry was severely stretched, leaving its military to search abroad for armaments and other supplies.
“Russia is already having to mobilize Soviet-era tanks and harvest kitchen freezers for low-grade chips,” the statement said, adding that the new package “tackles Russia’s attempts to circumvent and offset these clear impacts of U.K. and allies’ sanctions.”
Two Turkish businesses, Turkik Union and Azu International, were targeted under the new sanctions for what Britain described as their role in exporting microelectronics to Russia, as was Aeromotus Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Trading, which is based in Dubai, and which the British government said supplied drones and drone components to Russia.
Individuals singled out included Ashot Mkrtychev, a Slovakian national who, Britain said, was involved in an attempted arms deal between North Korea and Russia, and Anselm Oskar Schmucki, a Swiss national, for work in the financial sector. The United States announced sanctions against both men earlier this year.
The measures also target Iranian individuals and entities, including the Paravar Pars Company, which Britain says is involved in the research, development and production of drones, and Gomel Radio Plant, which Britain says is linked to the production of military technology in Belarus.
