Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to close loopholes in the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation.

We continue to use sanctions to bear down on Russia's illegal war in Ukraine. Last month, a new package of over 50 UK designations targeted Russia's efforts to circumvent sanctions on its war machine and major revenue sources. Earlier this month, we delivered new legislation to bring about a coordinated ban on Russian diamond exports. With partners, we have strengthened the Oil Price Cap (OPC) mechanism and added new items to the Common High Priority (CHP) list. We are preparing to bolster our existing powers to target malign Russian shipping activity. We continue to strengthen sanctions enforcement, with the creation of the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) and a new unit within the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) to licence and enforce the OPC.