London, May 20, 2026
Reacting to the news that the UK is loosening sanctions on Russian Fossil Fuels,
Alexander Kirk, Sanctions Campaigner, said:
“After years of campaigning to tighten the screws on the Kremlin’s war economy, this decision risks sending the opposite message: that sanctions only hold when they are politically convenient.
"Celebrations will be happening in the Kremlin today. Russian state media is already seizing on this as proof that Western resolve can be weakened when fuel prices rise.
"Sanctions were never supposed to be painless. Their purpose is to constrain the revenues that help finance Russia’s war machine. When the UK weakens pressure, it is Ukrainians who pay first, but the consequences will not stop at Ukraine’s borders. Europe and NATO will also feel the cost of signalling to Moscow that pressure works.
"The danger here is not just the economic signal, but the political message it sends. Moscow will read this as weakness.”
ENDS
