Extract from oral
answer (Lords) on Russia: Sanctions
of Headley (Con): My
Lords, first, I applaud my noble friend for all he is doing.
Given that the aim of the Government is to stop the financing of
President Putin’s war machine—and given that he has just said
that nothing is off the table—can the Minister confirm that the
Government have not ruled out calling for the complete cessation
of all European imports of Russian oil and gas, and of all
payments for Russian oil and gas under existing long-term
contracts? Can the Minister also confirm that the Government have
not ruled out banning Gazprombank and Sberbank
from SWIFT?
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office () (Con): My
noble friend raises some quite specific points. On his final
point about SWIFT and a number of banks, they have already been
directly impacted by some of the steps we have taken. The noble
Lord will be aware of the position of Her Majesty’s Government
with our key partners on the total suspension of access to SWIFT.
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Extracts from Lords
motion to approve the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment)
(No. 2) Regulations 2022
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office () (Con):...The same
statutory instrument prevents the Russian state raising debt here
and isolates all Russian companies—of which there are over 3
million—from accessing UK capital markets. This measure goes
further than those of our allies, banning all Russian companies
from lucrative UK funding. Russian businesses listed in London
have a combined market capitalisation of over £450 billion. This
includes some of Russia’s largest state-owned enterprises, and
the Kremlin is hugely reliant on their tax revenues. Banning them
from raising debt in London will further increase the burden on
the Russian state. Global giants such as Gazprom will
no longer be able to issue debt or equity in London. In the last
seven years, Russian companies have raised over $8 billion on the
UK markets. We have put a stop to this.
(LD):...We welcome the
Government’s additions overnight regarding sterling trade, but
can the Minister outline whether we can expand them further to
include UK trading houses that operate in denominations other
than sterling? London is the centre of many key sectors—energy
and specifically gold—where we are leading the world. I
understand that beyond the sanctions regime there are landlords
in London who are now exiting agreements, for example,
with Gazprom Marketing
& Trading Ltd. There are voluntary exits of tenancy
agreements that are beyond the sanctions regime, but within the
scope of very considerable reputational risk. As the SIs
indicate, if fully enforced, this represents only 12% of UK
exports to Russia. In many areas, the nearly 90% of private
sector activity will have the biggest impact. A lot of decisions
are being made because of reputational risk...
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