UK sanctions combined 50 tankers and LNG carriers on fourth anniversary of Ukraine invasion

The UK government has announced sanctions against 48 tankers, two LNG carriers, and two LNG terminals on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office added 145,000-m³ LNG carrier LNG Soars and 138,300-m³ Kungpeng to its sanctioned vessels list along with the companies Gazprom SPG Portovaya and Cyrogas Vysotsk, which control LNG export terminals on Russia’s Baltic sea coast.

The UK sanctions package, which the government described as the "largest since the early months of the invasion in 2022," also added 48 tankers to its list of sanctioned vessels. 

The sanctioned tankers and two sanctioned terminals have all been added to the European Union (EU) sanctions lists previously, and the latest UK sanctions were intended to have been announced in unison with a round of EU sanctions that would have imposed a full maritime services ban for Russian crude exports. That package of sanctions failed to pass, with EU member state Hungary blocking the legislation.

EU member states have already agreed to phase out short-term, spot market LNG supply deals by 25 April 2026 and will ban long-term contracts with Russian LNG entities from 1 January 2027.

In Kyiv to announce an additional £30M (US$40M) in aid funding, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, "As the Kremlin continues its barbaric assault against innocent civilians that have suffered their most brutal winter in a decade, the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people endures. The UK has today taken decisive action to disrupt the critical financing, military equipment and revenue streams that sustain Russia’s aggression, in our largest raft of measures since the early months of the invasion."

The UK sanctions also included Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation Rosatom, nine banks linked to Russia’s financial sector, 29 individuals and entities purportedly supplying Russia’s defence sector, along with 18 military or ’dual-use’ goods suppliers, two electronics suppliers, two purported disinformation outlets, 12 entit,ies alleged to support the Russian energy sector and 175 entities or individuals said to be associated with Coral Energy Group, now known as 2Rivers Group.