London: In a broad clampdown designed to strangle Russia’s war machine, Britain has targeted two of Moscow’s biggest oil giants, Rosneft and Lukoil – along with prominent figures in India and China.
Announcing the move just days after Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in India, it catches Nayara Energy Limited — the Russian majority-owned refinery in Gujarat — for its predilection for Russian crude.
Nayara, which last year alone took 100 million barrels of Russian crude valued at more than $5 billion (£3.75bn), will now have its assets frozen and services barred. This is as state-owned Indian refineries reduced purchases of Russian ‘black gold’ by more than 45% from June to September 2025, Kpler figures indicate. Four Chinese oil terminals and 44 vessels belonging to Russia’s opaque “ghost fleet” of ageing tankers evading Western oversight also feature on the blacklist, cutting the flow of some 3.1 million barrels a day in daily exports.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the 90 new measures were a “significant blow” to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine funding machine. “We are sending an obvious message: Russian oil is off the global market,” she declared, promising to increase pressure on third-country firms that support Moscow’s exports. Together the two produce almost half of Russia’s output (flirting with 6% of world supply) and have now been targeted more than any other Russian energy asset by UK sanctions.
The Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, repeated the determination: “We will turn the screw – teamwork with allies piling on the pain – oil, gas and shadows until Putin ends his illegal war. G7 nations consider asset freezes, and this escalation signals Britain’s unwavering approach to turning the screw on energy lifelines that fuel conflict.