UK Targets Russia's Shadow Fleet and Propagandists in Fresh 31-Measure Sanctions Package

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An oil tanker underway at sea in the Solent, England.

An oil tanker in the Solent, England. The new sanctions add eight more vessels to Britain's crackdown on the tankers keeping Russia's oil exports moving. (ITookSomePhotos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

Britain has announced 31 new sanctions against Russia, aimed at the tankers that keep Moscow's oil revenues flowing, the people running Kremlin disinformation campaigns, and those accused of torturing Ukrainian civilians and deporting their children.

The package, announced by the Foreign Office on Thursday, is the latest British attempt to squeeze the money funding Russia's war in Ukraine and to punish those responsible for abuses in the country's occupied territories.

Key facts

  • Who: 23 individuals and entities, plus eight ships.
  • What: asset freezes, travel bans, trust services and director disqualification sanctions for the people and organisations; shipping and trade sanctions for the ships.
  • Ships: three alleged shadow fleet tankers, two vessels accused of refuelling them, and three Russian-owned ice-class vessels. Some were acquired as recently as July.
  • Disinformation: seven individuals accused of spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda, including four Georgian nationals.
  • Abuses: eight people accused of the arbitrary detention and torture of Ukrainian civilians; seven more accused of indoctrinating and militarising Ukrainian children.
  • Why now: the government says the move follows sham elections in Ukraine's occupied territories and record Russian drone attacks.

What the government announced

The Foreign Office said the new measures are designed to hit three things at once: the money, the propaganda and the people carrying out abuses. It described the package as part of Britain's determination to hold those behind Russian aggression to account, while backing Ukraine, the UK and Europe against what it called Putin's senseless and barbaric war.

The 23 individuals and entities will be subject to asset freezes, trust services sanctions and director disqualification sanctions, with the people also facing travel bans. The eight ships will be subject to shipping and trade sanctions, which under the Russia regulations can bar them from British ports and lead to their detention.

The government did not name all of the vessels or the four Georgian nationals in the published notice, so those details have not been included here.

The shadow fleet crackdown

A central plank of the package is Britain's ongoing campaign against the so-called shadow fleet, the ageing tankers with opaque ownership that Russia has used to keep oil and gas exports moving around Western price caps and sanctions.

The vessels sanctioned include three shadow fleet ships, two vessels providing them with bunkering services and three Russian-owned ice-class ships. The government said Russia is trying to build a dangerous new shadow fleet to get round sanctions, with some of the newly listed ships entering service as recently as July this year.

Britain has led the international effort against these tankers. According to the government, the UK has now sanctioned nearly 600 of them. In June, British forces intercepted the shadow fleet vessel Smyrtos, which the Foreign Office presented as a clear message that those helping to fund Russia's aggression cannot hide. International sanctions have deprived Moscow of nearly 500 billion dollars in assets and revenues since the invasion, which the government says equals about four more years of funding for the war.

Separately, the government said it is extending existing licensing arrangements to cover liquefied natural gas on a targeted and time-limited basis, to help Japan and the Republic of Korea move away from Russian energy while protecting their energy security. Japan has pledged over 20 billion dollars in financial, humanitarian and reconstruction assistance to Ukraine as a member of the Coalition of the Willing, while South Korea announced a 100 million dollar package in July.

Disinformation networks targeted

The package also goes after the people behind Kremlin propaganda. Seven individuals, including four Georgian nationals, were sanctioned for spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation, from legitimising Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory to serving in Russian-installed authorities in occupied South Ossetia.

The government says Russia is running a disinformation war across the world using networks of faceless online bot farms and trolls to target democratic processes. The Prime Minister told the United Nations last week that the Kremlin spends around 1.3 billion pounds each year manipulating information, putting the security of Europe and the UK at stake.

Those accused of abuses against civilians

Eight people were sanctioned over what the government described as the arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilians. These abuses, it said, are part of a wider system of repression in Russia's occupied territories, where enforced disappearance and the denial of justice have also been used against civilians.

Seven more individuals were targeted for their role in the indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children, including children deported by the Russian authorities. The government estimates that around 6,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly relocated to a network of what it calls re-education camps. Millions more children living under occupation are being subjected to Kremlin propaganda programmes, including training in weapons handling and drone operation, which the government says are designed to strip them of their Ukrainian identity and prepare them to serve the very state attacking their homeland.

Why the sanctions came now

The announcement follows what the Foreign Office called sham elections in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine earlier this month, against which Britain is now taking what it described as firm action. It also comes as Russia intensifies its air attacks on Ukraine ahead of winter. Moscow fired over 3,100 jet-powered drones into Ukraine in September, a new wartime record, and in the last week alone drone and missile strikes killed at least 44 civilians and injured a further 315.

The package follows the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary's diplomatic push to support Ukraine at the United Nations General Assembly.

What ministers said

The Minister for Europe, Lord Wood of Anfield, said the sanctions hit both the revenues sustaining Russia's aggression and the perpetrators of horrendous crimes against Ukrainian civilians, including children. "The UK will not flinch in our support for Ukraine," he said.

He added that the UK does not seek confrontation with Russia, but that until Putin ends the war, British support for Ukraine will remain unshakeable.

What happens next

The sanctions take effect through the UK's Russia sanctions regime, with the listed individuals and entities added to the consolidated list and subject to asset freezes and, where relevant, travel bans. The eight ships face shipping and trade sanctions, meaning they can be barred from British ports and targeted for detention.

Reuters reported that the package brings the total number of British sanctions on Russia-linked targets to more than 3,400 since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, making it one of the most extensive regimes alongside those of the United States and the European Union.

Whether the new measures change Moscow's behaviour is an open question. Past British action against individual shadow fleet ships has left the vast majority of them idling outside ports, unable to continue their trade in Russian oil, which suggests the economic pressure is real. But Russia has repeatedly tried to circumvent the sanctions by acquiring new vessels, including the ships listed this week, which entered service only months ago.

Conclusion

Thursday's package is not the biggest British sanctions round of the war, but it is a deliberate one. It ties together the money, the propaganda and the human cost: the tankers funding the fighting, the networks selling the story, and the people accused of committing the crimes. With winter approaching and Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy system intensifying, the message from London is that the pressure will keep coming.

Related articles

Sources

  • UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, "New UK sanctions target Kremlin war chest, propagandists and torturers", 1 October 2026.
  • Reuters, "UK's latest Russia sanctions target ships and disinformation networks", 1 October 2026.

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