British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended Wednesday (May 20) a contentious move to ease sanctions on imports of Russian jet fuel and diesel as the Middle East war causes prices to spiral.
But opposition parties heavily criticised the trade licence, which allows the UK to import Russian crude oil refined in third countries such as India.
Starmer in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday (May 20) evening assured him that "as a result of the UK's actions to date, there will be less Russian oil on the market, with Russia weaker as a result," a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The licence is of "indefinite duration", according to the Department of Business and Trade website, and will be periodically reviewed.
The Labour government also issued a temporary licence loosening sanctions on liquefied natural gas originating from certain Russian plants.
The UK had announced in October it would ban imports derived from Russian crude, part of a push to cut off revenues funding Russia's war in Ukraine.
But Starmer said the government was issuing "two targeted short-term licences to phase the new sanctions in and to protect UK consumers".
"This is not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever, and we will continue to work with our allies on further sanction packages," he said.
Starmer told Zelenskyy that Britain is "ramping up measures to crack down on Russia's economy including through the new package of sanctions".
The British prime minister said this was part of an "ongoing commitment to do everything possible to debilitate and degrade (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war machine", Downing Street said.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the prime minister of "choosing to buy dirty Russian oil. That money will be used to fund the killing of Ukrainian soldiers".
Britain imposed a stringent sanctions regime on Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, targeting oil exports as well as more than 3,000 individuals and companies.
The decision follows a US sanctions waiver for Russian oil cargoes already at sea, which was extended Monday for the second time as its war against Iran squeezes global oil supplies and sends energy prices soaring.
“TIME-LIMITED CHANGE”
The European Union criticised the US waiver extension at a meeting of G7 finance ministers on Tuesday that the UK was part of.
EU economics commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said it was not a time to "ease pressure on Russia".
But UK Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the sanctions easing was "protecting the UK national interest".
"The government has announced yesterday this time-limited change to the rules around oil and refining given the extremes of the impacts of the conflict in Iran, and the impact of it washing up on our shores," Tomlinson told Sky News.
Later, trade minister Chris Bryant apologised to MPs for the government's "clumsy" handling of the issue and said he wanted the licences to be as "temporary as possible".
In retaliation to US-Israeli strikes launched in February, Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane for global gas and oil, though traffic has slowly edged higher during a ceasefire.
On Wednesday, the international benchmark Brent North Sea crude remained close to $110 a barrel, far above pre-war levels.
Source: AFP
– Agencies
