UK Weekly Sanctions Update - Week of January 27, 2025

In this weekly update, we summarise the most notable updates in the UK sanctions world. If you have any questions in respect of any of the developments set out below, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our London Global and Government Trade team listed above.

Russia Sanctions

• UK Government removes one entry from the UK sanctions list under the Russia regime:   On January 30, 2025, OFSI removed Nikolay Ivanovich Bortsov from the UK sanctions list under the Russia regime.  Nikolay Ivanovich Bortsov was a former Russia politician who sat in the State Duma before passing away in 2023.  (Notice_Russia_300125.pdf).
• OFSI Amends General Licence Relating to the Oil Price Cap: On January 29, OFSI amended General Licence INT/2024/4423849, which permits the provision of certain services in relation to Russian oil or oil products subject to certain conditions, including compliance with the oil price cap and certain record-keeping and attestation requirements.  The amendment to the General Licence updated Combined Nomenclature (CN) / Harmonized System (HS) commodity code for "Premium to Crude" which now falls under the commodity code "2710 19 42." (Russian Oil Services ban - GOV.UK ; OPC_GL_-_INT-2024-4423849_-_January_2025.pdf).
• UK High Court awards Google final anti-enforcement injunctions against Russian media outlets: In a judgment handed down on 22 January 2025 in Google LLC & Google Ireland Limited v. NAO Tsargrad Media & others [2025] EWHC 94 (Comm), the UK High Court upheld claims for final anti-enforcement (and ancillary anti-anti-suit) injunctive relief against three Russian-domiciled defendants after an expedited trial of four actions commenced in mid-August 2024.  Russian media outlets NAO Tsargrad Media, TV-Novosti, and NO Fond Pravoslavnogo Televideniya had previously obtained Russian judgments after their YouTube channels were terminated for compliance with sanctions.  The Russian judgments led to seizure of over £51.2 million in Google Russia assets. The High Court found that recent attempts to enforce abroad were ‘exorbitant’, with claimed penalties reaching ‘£1,850,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,’ which the court noted ‘is about 20 trillion times greater than the estimated GDP of all the economies in the world.’ (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2025/94.html ; https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-wins-uk-injunction-over-youtube-block-russian-broadcasters-2025-01-22/).

Belarus Sanctions

• UK Government adds nine entries to the UK sanctions list under the Belarus regime: On January 27, 2025, OFSI added nine entries to the UK sanctions regime (six individuals and three entities), including the Chairman of the Belarusian Central Election Commission.  According to the UK Government, these sanctions target leaders of institutions responsible for serious human rights violations and companies in the Belarusian defence sector supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. (Notice_Belarus_270125.pdf; UK applies fresh sanctions following sham election in Belarus - GOV.UK).

Other Sanctions

• UK Foreign Affairs Committee to hold one-off oral evidence session: On February 4, 2025, the UK Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a one-off oral evidence session on the UK’s sanctions strategy at 2pm. The evidence session will examine the UK’s sanctions policy in full and the effectiveness of the different sanctions regime.  Tom Keatinge (RUSI), Maya Lester KC (Brick Court Chambers), and Freya Page (Kharon) will appear to give evidence. (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/78/foreign-affairs-committee/news/205043/how-successful-are-the-uks-sanctions-foreign-affairs-committee-to-hold-oneoff-evidence-session/; https://committees.parliament.uk/event/23211).