Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many violations there have been of sanctions placed on Russia; and what the value is of fines issued for those violations.

The Government has imposed a wide range of sanctions measures against Russia, including finance, trade and transport. The UK has implemented sanctions against Russia since 2014, following the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol from Ukraine, and the illegal invasion in 2022.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, is responsible for the civil enforcement of financial sanctions breaches, including the imposition of civil monetary penalties. OFSI does not hold full information on the number of breaches across all sanctions measures against Russia.

Since 2014, the UK has imposed fines totalling more than £20 million on firms for breaching financial sanctions related to Russia. OFSI has a range of enforcement tools it can use, in addition to civil monetary penalties, depending on the severity of the breach. These include issuing a private warning letter, publishing details of the breach but not issuing a penalty or making a referral to regulators.