Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 57
Ministerial knowledge and FCDO-Treasury coordination on Wagner sanctions waivers are insufficient.
Conclusion
The Minister had no specific knowledge of work within his Department to analyse whether Wagner activities undermine the financial impact of UK sanctions on the Russian war machine. Despite finding it “likely”, he could not confirm that the FCDO had had any input to HM Treasury’s unwise decision to issue sanctions waivers to Prigozhin. Despite assuring us that the Treasury and FCDO communicate over sanctions waivers in general, the Minister himself had not received any official advice specifically on sanctions waivers. Given his position as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Europe, we would expect him to have an interest and role in questions relating to sanctions waivers linked to Russia and Ukraine. His statements also lead us to question whether the Russia Unit is providing the necessary join-up between the FCDO and Treasury, given the central role of sanctions as a tool of UK foreign policy.
Government Response Summary
The government's response outlines its general sanctions policy and recent designations against the Wagner Group but does not address the committee's specific concerns about ministerial knowledge, FCDO and Treasury coordination, or sanctions waivers for Prigozhin.
Paragraph Reference:
57
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
Partially agree. 12. The Wagner Group was designated in its entirety under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 in March 2022. Yevgeny Prigozhin, its then leader, was designated under The Libya (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 in December 2020. 13. We continue to use sanctions policy to deter and disrupt malign Wagner activity. On 20 July, the UK designated 13 individuals and businesses involved with the Wagner Group in Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan. They include Konstantin Pikalov, Prigozhin’s ‘right hand man’, as well as Al-Solag mining, a Wagner front company not designated by the EU or US. The designations limit their financial freedom by preventing UK citizens, companies and banks from dealing with them, alongside freezing any assets held in the UK, and imposing travel bans on the individuals. 14. The Government’s ability to sanction individuals and entities depends on being able to build individual cases in line with the statutory requirements of the relevant geographic or thematic sanctions regime. These may differ from the grounds available to the United States and the European Union. Each country’s sanctions regimes are different, and each country uses them for different purposes and has different approaches in applying sanctions. For example, the UK relies on ‘ownership and control’ provisions, which means that subsidiaries are not designated separately. 15. The Government welcomes the analysis provided in Appendices 1 and 2 of the FAC’s report and will consider this in detail when considering further action.