My Lords, as always, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness on these issues. As is customary, she asked some really practical questions in her contribution. I share them, living in a rural area and having formerly represented a constituency that, both for industry and for individual families, will operate under a similar set of new circumstances with new costs. It is inevitable that some of the consequences of this horrific aggression by the Putin regime mean that we must diversify part of our energy dependence in certain areas and that some of our trade in certain areas may have to be changed. This is not just in the UK; it is also with our wider trading partners, which I will touch on in a moment.
I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. I support them. They address some of the issues that were raised in the Chamber when the Statement was repeated and the Government announced that sanctions would be forthcoming, particularly in maritime, insurance, financial services and aviation. I will touch on those briefly in a moment.
The Minister is absolutely right that the sanctions put in place against the regime and the state apparatus should be as tough as possible. I think that they can go further; I hope that we will be able to debate some areas in the coming days and weeks, with the Government taking the next step. It is welcome that more than 1,000 individuals have now been named but, regrettably, the Government have been slower than some of our partners in identifying individuals and putting in place the legislative regime.
As the Minister said, the conflict is now entering an even more horrific stage . As the Russian advance falters in many areas, it is resorting to tactics seen in grim fashion in Chechnya and Syria: systematically razing whole communities to the ground; terrorising populations; directly and indirectly targeting civilians; and knowingly targeting mothers and children. These are war crimes that are being seen clearly daily. Therefore, part of our sanctions regime must be complemented
by further activity to ensure that there is no impunity for these crimes. We are not in the realm of prevention; we need to move over to the phase of punishment.
On the other hand, the ongoing resilience and bravery of the Ukrainian people, who are sacrificing their lives for the hopes and aspirations of liberty and the freedom to choose their partnerships and alliances—and, indeed, to join the European Union—is literally awesome and inspiring, even in such grim circumstances. We will have consensus in this Committee, but I want to put on the record that I share others’ general revulsion at the Prime Minister making a connection between the Brexit debate in this country and this horrible war. I hope that the Minister will distance himself from such remarks; I do not think I would hear the Minister say that in the Chamber, but it was a jarring moment.
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There have also been press reports of Conservative Party fundraising dinners where individuals who might bid for distressed assets or be looking at opportunities from the sale of property or other assets, such as football clubs, have raised such matters in discussions with Cabinet Ministers. Can the Minister state clearly on the record that at no stage has any Minister flagged any prospect of sanctions that would allow some people to profit? I hope that that is an easy thing for the Minister to do.
Is the Minister able to share with the Committee what the current estimate is of the overall economic impact on the Russian economy? Clearly, we do not want to signal areas that would be to the advantage of the Russian regime but, as the noble Baroness indicated, we need to look at what are the most effective measures that have significant economic impact. We are, regrettably, in a state of hybrid war; the hybrid nature of it is the economic impact on Russia. We are engaged in this and therefore we need to look continuously at how effectively we are working in party, and in co-operation, with our allies, particularly the United States and Europe.
Can the Minister also comment on whether the Government are prepared to consider a secondary set of sanctions on those who are in Governments that, if not directly facilitating, are enabling the Russian regime? It is troubling to see some of those characters, whether in the Balkans—such as Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska—or in the wider region, seeking to take advantage of this aggression for their own aims of destabilising countries. Can the Minister indicate, as the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, indicated to me in response to previous Questions, that the whole suite of these sanctions will be replicated for the Belarusian regime? I hope that that is a straightforward thing and that all these elements will also apply in future to the state apparatus of Belarus.
Turning to the instruments themselves, on the maritime regulations, the measures relating to the registration of ships, which seek to avoid reflagging, are welcome. As we mentioned in the Chamber, we saw some maritime assets seized by some of our European partners and it took a while for the UK to act; nevertheless, London is one of the global centres—if not the global centre—for maritime and indemnity insurance and acting in this area is of significance, so I welcome that.
On the financial measures, can the Minister explain some of the thinking, which has been of concern to my party and others who are in organisations that have sought to ensure that there are no loopholes for enablers or for those who seek to take advantage? Although the sanctions relating to the state banks and other banks are welcome, I understand that the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation provided a broad licence for financial institutions to wind down their positions with Russian banks over a 30-day period but that has still not concluded. Part of the concern was that, while the Government’s rhetoric was that they were acting immediately to close down those who were carrying out financial relations with Russian banks, the OFSI gave 30 days’ grace, which I think is not the signal that we wanted to see.
There is also reference by the OFSI to crypto assets. My noble friend Lady Kramer has raised this repeatedly. I understand that crypto assets will also be covered by these sanctions but, when it comes to decentralised finance—the means by which those who are trading or seeking to circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies—can the Minister take back from my noble friend the request for a meeting with Treasury Ministers to ensure that, as we prepare for the second economic crime Bill, we have all the legislative tools in this complex area of regulation to ensure that we are ahead of the game rather than behind it?
Moving to aviation, again, this SI is welcome. On my return from a visit to Africa at the end of last week, I had to be rerouted via Doha. I was struck that, when catching my flight back to London, I walked past a long queue next to the departure gate for the Qatar Airways flight to London, going from Doha to Moscow. Given that Qatar is a key partner of British Airways, it is still very easy if you are an enabler to have a very comfortable business-class route on British Airways through a partner airline to Doha into Moscow. I wonder whether the effectiveness of our sanctions regarding airspace could be enhanced by indicating what connecting flights and partnerships for airlines would be affected by this.
I have two final points. One touches on the point that the noble Baroness indicated regarding workers; I noted that also. I ask the Minister to take this back: an organisation has been in touch via a colleague regarding the visa scheme for sponsoring. There are 71 questions that need to be answered by those sponsoring a child, including uploading documentation in English on that child. If they are not able to do that, they have to go to a visa centre. Can the Minister take back—he does not have to respond today—or respond in writing that we need to ensure that this scheme is as streamlined as it possibly can be to take advantage of the generosity of the British people who wish to support those fleeing?
My final point regards next steps and potentially moving forward. In my travels recently, I have seen at close hand that it is not just the Russian regime acting in this but also those it sponsors in mercenary organisations, including the Wagner Group. Part of that has previously been sanctioned—rightly so. I have seen for myself that the Wagner Group is operating not just in this conflict directly, where it is well known that it has been sent to assassinate President Zelensky;
it is also operating as a destabilising force throughout the whole of north Africa and the Sahel into sub-Saharan Africa and the region.
Can the Minister take back that I will start by looking at proscription orders under terrorism legislation, rather than simply sanctions legislation, for part of the state apparatus and those groups that the Putin regime is using as proxies? We have under proscription orders mechanisms in law that go beyond sanctions regimes to prevent those who are facilitating the work of some of these evil mercenaries and their activities. I hope that the Government will consider that there are other tools available under legislation; we should be in a position to consider them.
With that said—I am grateful to the Minister for listening—we support the regulations. We wish them to go further. I hope that, if he is not able to respond directly to our questions today, he will write to us to outline what the Government plan to do next.