One Russian newspaper claimed today that the UK could lift sanctions against the state, only for the Foreign Office to issue a new crackdown hours later.
The British embassy in Russia reportedly told national newspaper Izvestia that the UK is considering watering down sanctions, introduced due to the Ukraine war, against Moscow.
Izvestia (in which the state-owned company Gazopram has a controlling share) did acknowledge that the House of Lords has warned the UK will stay in step with the US and not lift sanctions – but still suggested such measures cannot be lifted if they do not serve a purpose.
This claim was then reported by the Russian state agency TASS, too.
The UK has imposed sanctions on almost 2,000 Russians, including government officials, and more than 300 companies.
Although there have been concerns the sanctions are not having the desired effect, those fears centre around the measures not being hard enough.
Plus, any rowing back on these measures would be a major shift in the UK’s long-term support for Ukraine, which is highly unlikely.
However, the Labour government appeared to have already inadvertently quashed such claims via the foreign secretary David Lammy’s latest announcement.
The UK declared new and significant measures against Iran and Russia on Tuesday.
It came after Iran sent new ballistic missiles to Moscow for use on the battlefield against Ukraine.
Iran has sent hundreds of drones to Russia since the war began, and is one of the country’s primary military backers.
So the UK and the US have announced co-ordinated sanctions against the two countries, while the UK, France and Germany also issued a joint statement and cancelled bilateral arrangements with Iran.
Russian cargo ships have been sanctioned for their role in transporting military supplies from Iran into the country, too.
UK parliament is also looking to strengthen trade sanctions on Iran this week in a further blow to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Lammy said: “Iran supplying Russia with ballistic missiles to fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine is a significant and dangerous escalation.
“We have been clear in that any transfer of ballistic missiles by Iran would face a significant response. Today, alongside our international partners, we are calling out this behaviour and its attempts to undermine global security.
“Iran must stop supporting Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated and barbaric attack against a sovereign democratic state. The UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Meanwhile transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “We will continue to use every lever at our disposal to put pressure on Iran to end its support for Putin’s illegal invasion.”