UK announces new sanctions targeting Russian commanders, Iranian businessmen

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – The UK has announced a new package of 16 sanctions targeting senior Russian commanders and Iranian businessmen, a government statement said on Tuesday.

The announcement came as “Russia steps up its campaign of terror against Ukraine, striking at crucial energy infrastructure and plunging its people into the dark and freezing cold of winter.”

The new sanctions targeted “high-level Russian officials for their roles in the Russian military and its inhumane, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine” and “commanders of military units implicated in missile strikes on Ukrainian cities among those sanctioned.”

The statement further said “designations also focus on Iranian businessmen and a military official involved in the production and/or supply of military drones used to carry out attacks.”

“The UK stands with Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

“Russian forces’ calculated attacks on cities and innocent civilians in Ukraine will not go unanswered,” he added.

Cleverly also said: “The Iranian regime is increasingly isolated in the face of deafening calls for change from its own people and is striking sordid deals with Putin in a desperate attempt to survive.

“Putin wants to break Ukraine’s spirit, but he will not succeed. Ukraine will win, and Ukraine will rebuild.”

The statement said the Iranian regime’s “brutal repression of its own people and the threat it poses in the Middle East have left Iran isolated internationally and in desperate need of support from Putin.”

Tuesday’s sanctions include individuals “facilitating the production of these drones, including the co-owner and Managing Director of MADO, the company responsible for manufacturing engines for the drones which have been used by Russia in Ukraine,” according to the statement.