 DCUK-INTEL Weekly public intelligence brief on UK foreign & security policies: For members of Declassified UK only Issue 49 – Week to 24 February 2022 EUROPE Russia/Ukraine The UK announced new sanctions on Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday, these measures hit five banks and three oligarchs. Today, the Prime Minister went further, banning the Russian airline Aeroflot from the UK. He also pledged limits on how much Russians can deposit in UK banks, plus asset freezes on around 100 more people. Another measure includes tighter controls on what technology can be exported to Russia. Putin’s ally Belarus will also face similar restrictions. A new “kleptocracy cell” is to be set up within the National Crime Agency, reforms made to Companies House and a register of overseas property ownership, so Russian oligarchs in London have “nowhere to hide”. In response to the first set of sanctions, opposition parties called for them to go further and to include Conservative Party donors like Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a former Russian finance minister. Boris Johnson has promised further supplies of military equipment to Ukraine. Culture secretary Nadine Dorries wrote to media regulator Ofcom asking it to take action against Russia Today. Moves to take the news channel off-air could cause retaliation against BBC staff in Russia. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss summoned the Russian ambassador and “condemned Russia’s outrageous attack on Ukraine as a clear breach of international law.” Sir Tony Brenton, former UK ambassador to Moscow, told Sky News this morning that Russia’s invasion was “an appalling breach of international law.” He added: “Putin is the major agent of it. But it’s worth noting that in the negotiations that were taking place before all this, and I think Putin genuinely hoped to do a deal – he put down some demands that were unacceptable to us, we never really made any concession at all to his demands, [and] negotiations broke down… So there’s a certain unwillingness by the West to recognise how seriously Putin takes this issue which has brought us to where we are.” Brenton predicted that sanctions would “bounce off Russia’s back” because the Kremlin takes “Russian national security much more seriously than they take Russian economic welfare”. Baltics Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced a British-led expeditionary group will carry out joint exercises with Baltic states. MIDDLE EAST Israel The UK government reiterated its rejection of Amnesty International‘s findings about “apartheid” Israel, saying it is a “friend of Israel“. ASIA Kazakhstan Foreign minister James Cleverly failed to answer a parliamentary question about whether UK-made weapons were used by the Kazakh regime in their crackdown on protesters. AFRICA Kenya Defence minister Leo Docherty confirmed that in May 2021 a “small number of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment failed a compulsory drugs test” upon return from Kenya. He refused to release information on specific steps taken against these troops but said “Service personnel caught taking drugs can expect to be discharged.” MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE The MOD published a new Defence Equipment Plan. Ben Wallace said it was the “biggest modernisation of our armed forces” with a £24 billion military spending boost to “meet emerging threats”. Catch our member exclusive brief each Thursday Would you prefer a denser report every fortnight, or do you prefer being updated weekly? Denser, but less topical, fortnightly updates. Select Regular weekly updates. Select Declassified UK | www.declassifieduk.org |
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