By Kanyshai Butun
ISTANBUL (AA) - The Russian Embassy in the UK on Tuesday criticized Britain’s "biggest" sanctions package as “attacks on Russian oil and gas companies destabilizing global energy markets.”
The diplomatic mission said the restrictions would ultimately affect local businesses and the wallets of ordinary British citizens.
“The fact that many third-party entities are also subject to restrictions undermines the energy security of states in the Global South,” it wrote on Telegram. “This attempt at trade and economic dictatorship cannot lead to any positive outcome, in part because Britain itself is no longer an economic superpower or the ‘workshop of the world.’ The world can easily do without London’s services.”
The embassy said repeated predictions of Russia’s economic collapse in the last four years have not materialized, arguing that the country’s economy has adapted while the sanctions regime has grown “increasingly cumbersome and pointless year after year.”
“The British establishment has invested too much political capital in the Kyiv regime, as well as budgetary funds in its military-industrial complex. And now it can’t stop,” it said.
“The United Kingdom still has no intention of acknowledging its role and responsibility for the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and the realities that led to the start of the special military operation,” it added.
The UK announced earlier nearly 300 new sanctions with its "biggest" sanctions package, targeting critical revenue streams, including Russia’s energy sector and military suppliers.
The measures include sanctions on the PJSC Transneft oil pipeline company, 175 companies linked to the “2Rivers” oil group, 49 entities and individuals involved in drone and LNG sectors, and nine banks handling Russian cross-border payments.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in Kyiv that the UK is also providing £30 million ($40.52 million) to boost Ukraine’s energy resilience, bringing total British support since the war began in February 2022 to £21.8 billion.