The remarks came as the foreign secretary added 50 new individuals and businesses to the UK sanctions list to mark two years since Russia’s invasion.
The defence secretary has said the government will take a “very close look” after Sky News found UK exports are almost certainly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Drone equipment and heavy machinery are among items being sent to countries including Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan, from where they are understood to be forwarded to Russia.
Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway said it was undermining the official UK sanctions regime and bolstering Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told the House of Commons on Thursday: “I did read at length Ed Conway’s excellent thread talking about this issue.
“It is the case that when you set up sanctions initially they tend to work, but they’ll eventually work their way and find another route to market.
“As Ed Conway points out in the thread this is an international problem… I can assure him that the British government will be taking a very close look.”
Officially, flows of heavy machinery, electrical equipment and cars from the UK to Russia have dropped to nearly zero – with the government calling it “the most severe package of economic sanctions ever imposed”.
However, Sky News analysis of Britain’s official trade statistics gives a different perspective.
It shows that while UK firms’ exports to Russia have fallen sharply, exports to various former Soviet satellite states have risen at an unprecedented rate.
Among items being exported are significant quantities of “dual use” items that can be repurposed into weaponry.
Exports to four countries have risen by over 500% since the outbreak of war and, worryingly, by far the biggest class of goods being sent are “parts of aeroplanes, helicopters or unmanned aircraft”.
British exports to Kyrgyzstan, the small former Soviet satellite state, are up more than 1,100%, for example.
These exports are dominated by heavy machinery and vehicles which can no longer be sent directly to Russia.
They are also up nearly as sharply to Armenia, which according to Robin Brooks – former chief economist of financial body the IIF, has recorded a sharp increase in its onward exports to Russia.
Mr Brooks said it’s been going on for some time and that other European countries, notably Germany and Poland, also send large quantities of hardware to Russia via these states.
He told Sky News that firms were “clearly getting an order from somewhere that is a Russian satellite that happens to be domiciled in one of these Central Asian countries”.
He said the rise in exports was “completely insane” and that Russia was “the only reasonable explanation”.
Prior to Mr Shapps’s comments, the government told Sky News they are constantly attempting to tighten the sanctions regime.
“Any non-compliance with these tough sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through large financial penalties or criminal prosecution,” said a spokesman.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron added 50 more people and businesses to the UK sanctions list on Thursday.
Some 2,000 individuals and companies have been sanctioned since the start of the war two years ago, according to the Foreign Office.
The latest measures target companies linked to the manufacture of munitions, Russian importers and manufacturers of machine tools, and oil and diamond traders.
Not to mention obviously sabotaged nuclear missiles of the UK Navy. Get your fucking shit clean! Same goes for my fucking own country, the US of Assholes.
It’s not only Britain, it’s the combined West that’s been a disgrace.
Oh, please, Mr. Ofp, such exaggerations aren’t helpful at all! There’s many Western governments that have done almost everything they possibly could to support Ukraine in this fight. And without their contributions, the brave country probably would have fallen many months ago. So, please, tone that down and criticize specific shortcomings instead. Most importantly, the stop of deliveries by the US. That’s the single most important issue hurting Ukraine now.
It’s not an exaggeration, Mr. Gray. Unfortunately.
I know of all the help that Ukraine received and all that. But, this sort of thing as described in the article has been going on since last year. I don’t want to recall all the reports about the West allowing this and that, sanctions being too weak, having too many loopholes, and not much being done about the deficits.
Maybe I just have a different viewpoint than everyone else on here, except for maybe foccusser. There are friends and family of mine in Ukraine who are in constant danger. Much of this danger stems from drones and missiles with Western components. Not only russian ones, but those from iran and north korea, too. I’m just sick and tired of the hypocrisy, idiocy, and weakness that we’ve displayed all along.
I was reading an article today about a trainload of tanks going across the bridge to Crimea. Yet we hear from the jellyfish, that Taurus won’t affect the outcome of the war. It makes you sick listening to their BS.
That’s right and another aspect, foccusser. Making or letting Ukraine go on an offensive that would give every Western general nightmares. And, telling Ukraine you can’t have this, you can’t have that, you can’t do this, and you can’t do that. It is very sickening.
They don’t appear to have any sort of plan, if this is the best NATO can do, we are all fucked. As soon as NATO started advising Ukraine on tactics etc, everything went downhill for Ukraine. Instead of going for Kherson, Ukraine should have gone straight for Crimea before the orcs built their defences. Was this another great NATO idea, because it sent Ukraine in the wrong direction completely.
It seems the best that NATO can do. They haven’t done or suggested anything better.