LONDON – British leader Keir Starmer has defended a contentious move to ease sanctions on imports of Russian jet fuel and diesel as the Middle East war causes prices to spiral.
But opposition parties heavily criticized the trade licence, which allows the UK to import Russian crude oil refined in third countries such as India.
Starmer in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening assured him that “as a result of the UK’s actions to date, there will be less Russian oil on the market, with Russia weaker as a result,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
The license is of “indefinite duration”, according to the Department of Business and Trade website, and will be periodically reviewed.
The Labor government also issued a temporary license loosening sanctions on liquefied natural gas originating from certain Russian plants.
The UK had announced in October it would ban imports derived from Russian crude, part of a push to cut off revenues funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
But Starmer said the government was issuing “two targeted short-term licences to phase the new sanctions in and to protect UK consumers”.
“This is not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever, and we will continue to work with our allies on further sanction packages,” he said.
Starmer told Zelenskyy that Britain is “ramping up measures to crack down on Russia’s economy including through the new package of sanctions.”
