Threats of sanctions against Russian energy companies from the UK are the latest move in the diplomatic game between Moscow and London, said Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council.
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that the UK is developing a bill to tighten sanctions against Russia. Truss said that Russian individuals and financial institutions would be subject to sanctions, and the measures would be introduced in coordination with allies in the EU and the United States. It is expected that a bill to tighten the sanctions regime against Russia will be presented in the British Parliament on January 31. New British sanctions could also affect the assets of Russian energy companies.
“I would not overestimate the significance of these threats, rather, they are the latest move in the diplomatic game that is being played between Moscow and London. Most of these draft sanctions are a kind of demonstration of intimidation: the British, Americans and the European Union are trying to contain what they consider to be very likely aggression against Ukraine and, in general, paint the consequences that such a Russian action could lead to,” the RIA Novosti expert said.
According to him, among the possible sanctions that can be considered are sanctions against the Russian energy sector, since they are among the most sensitive for the economy.
“However, now it would be wrong to say that they will be literally introduced as a preventive measure. Especially since British diplomacy is simultaneously trying to start a dialogue. At the very least, it would be strange to impose sanctions in parallel with the upcoming visits of the head of the Foreign and Defense Ministry to Moscow, moreover, in relation to actions that Russia can only theoretically undertake,” the expert emphasized.
Russia has repeatedly stated that talking to it in the language of sanctions is counterproductive.
And the plans attributed to Russia to escalate the situation around Ukraine in Moscow are categorically denied and constantly declare that they are not threatening anyone, and all such statements are used as an excuse to place more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any pretexts for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine, hyped by the West, is aimed at covering Kiev’s line of sabotaging the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the US and NATO information hysteria over Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes.