UK Targets Lukoil, Rosneft, Shadow Fleet with Sanctions

Britain targeted Russia's two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, and 51 shadow fleet tankers on Wednesday in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenues.

Lukoil and Rosneft were designated under the Britain’s Russia sanctions laws for what London described as their role in supporting the Russian government. They are subject to an asset freeze, director disqualification, transport restrictions, and a ban on British trust services.

The two companies were considered strategically significant to the Kremlin, the government said, adding that their activities were of economic importance to Russia, contributing to state revenues that help sustain its war in Ukraine.

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"We are introducing targeted sanctions against the two biggest oil companies in Russia, Lukoil and Rosneft," Britain's finance minister Rachel Reeves told reporters while on a trip in the United States.

"At the same time, we are ramping up pressure on companies in third countries, including India and China, that continue to facilitate getting Russia oil onto global markets."

Russia's embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reeves said there was "no place for Russia