Russia imposes sanctions on 32 UK analysts

Russia has imposed personal sanctions against 32 representatives of think tanks, consulting agencies and other UK structures for a “hostile line” towards Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"Their expert assessments and formulated tasks, often related to interference in the internal affairs of foreign states, are widely used in the implementation of the anti-Russian course of the collective West," the department noted. It specified that such British organizations "spread disinformation that discredits the Russian state" and "carry out destructive activity in friendly countries."

In particular, restrictions were imposed on Helen Elizabeth Clark, Robin Christian Howard Niblett, Stuart Godfrey Popham, Terence James Oneill, Nigel Elton Scheinwald, Bronwen Maria Maddox from the British Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House, as well as Daniel Lafaydney and Nicholas de Pedro from the analytical non-profit organization Institute for Statecraft (both structures are recognized as undesirable organizations in Russia).

The Russian sanctions list also includes employees of the British organizations Forward Strategy Limited, Media Diversity Institute, Toro Risk Solutions, Open Knowledge Foundation, Privacy International, Peace Child International and the Aga Khan Foundation.

British citizens who have been sanctioned are barred from entering Russia. The Foreign Ministry also promised to continue working on expanding the "stop list" in response to "London's hostile policy."

On July 18, London expanded sanctions against Moscow. The restrictions affected 11 vessels that the UK government associates with transporting oil and oil products in circumvention of the price cap. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry added top managers of British military-industrial complex companies, including BAE Systems PLC and Pearson Engineering Limited, experts and journalists to the sanctions list.

Russia considers sanctions imposed by Western countries illegal and demands that they be lifted. As the Kremlin noted, such restrictions also hit those who initiate them.