Britain Drops Sanctions Against Russia and Iran: There are Commanders of Strategic Missile Forces to Heads of the Aviation Industry

Russian military illustration. (Source: Russian Ministry of Defense/Evgeny Polovodov/Dmitry Gutov)

JAKARTA - The UK, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has again imposed sanctions on a number of high-ranking Russian military officers, who are suspected of being related to the invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday.

In addition, the latest sanctions also target Iranian individuals and companies, related to the production and/or supply of Iranian drones to Russia that were used to attack Ukraine.

The announcement comes as Russia escalates its campaign of terror against Ukraine, striking critical energy infrastructure and plunging its people into darkness and a freezing winter.

"The UK supports Ukraine. The calculated attacks by Russian troops on innocent cities and civilians in Ukraine will not be ignored," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement on the ministry's official website, as quoted on December 14.

"(President) Putin wants to break Ukraine's spirit, but he will not succeed. Ukraine will win, and Ukraine will rebuild," he continued.

The ministry further explained that twelve senior commanders of Russian military forces, including units involved in attacks on Ukrainian cities, had been sanctioned.

Major General Robert Baranov, identified by the Bellingcat investigation as the commander of the unit responsible for programming and targeting the Russian cruise missiles, was among those targeted.

More than 6.000 Ukrainian civilians are estimated to have died since the start of the Russian invasion, mainly from Russian missile and artillery attacks.

Additionally, Iranian-made drones have played a central role in malicious attacks on civilians, with US reports showing Iran sending hundreds of drones to Russia, which are used to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure and kill civilians.

It is known that the sanctions imposed this time include freezing assets, travel bans and transportation sanctions.

List of Russian Officials Affected by Sanctions

1. Colonel General Sergey Viktorovich Karakaev, Commander, Strategic Missile Forces
2. Colonel General Mikhail Yuryevich Teplinskiy, Commander, Airborne Forces
3. Lieutenant General Mikhail Mikhaylovich Matveevsky, Commander,

   Missile Troops and Artillery

4. Lieutenant General Nikolay Mikhaylovich Parshin, Head of the Main Missile-Artillery Directorate
5. Lieutenant General Alexander Semyonovich Sanchik, Commander, 35th Combined Arms Army
6. Lieutenant General Mikhail Stepanovich Zusko, Chief of Staff of the Russian Forces Group (West)
7. Major General Alexey Vyacheslavovich Avdeev, Commander, 3rd Motorized Rifle Division
8. Major General Robert Baranov, Director, Main Computation Center of the General Staff
9. Major General Aleksandr Vladimirovich Novikov, Head of the Department for Construction and Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
10. Major General Oleg Yurievich Tsokov, Commander,144th Motorized Rifle Division
11. Colonel Georgy Ivanovich Shuvaev, Head of Missile Troops and Artillery of the 1st Tank Army
12. Colonel Evgeny Nikolaevich Zhuravlev, Commander, 4th Tank Division

List of Sanctions Against Iran

1. MADO, Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar Company
2. Yousef Aboutalebi, Director at MADO
3. Brigadier General Abdollah Mehrabi, Chief of IRGC ASF SSJO
4. Professor Afshin Khajeh Fard, Head of Iran Aviation Industries Organization