At least 127 companies in the UK have voluntarily confessed to violating the sanctions against Russia since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The information of the Financial Times about 127 UK companies breaching the sanctions was relevant as of 17 May 2023, the response of the UK Treasury in response to the Pinsent Masons law firm states. Companies can report their violations voluntarily in order to reduce the fines, the FT reports.

Stacey Keen, Pinsent Masons’ partner specialising in financial crimes, thinks that a significant amount of the sanctions against Russia became a challenge for the UK business due to Moscow being heavily integrated into the global economy.

"Russian individuals and entities had a footprint outside of Russia that perhaps if you look at the Iranian regime or the Syrian regime — there just wasn’t those interlinks between the economies." she added.

Keen believes that the British business must consider admitting to violating the sanctions against Russia in order to avoid harsher punishments, up to criminal proceedings. Less severe measures are a warning or a fine without a top limit.

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation of the UK (OFSI) is in charge of the monitoring of violations. A source from the institution told FT that it is "not trying to unduly penalise honest mistakes".

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK has imposed sanctions against over 1,600 physical and legal entities, as well as implemented a moratorium on the cooperation of UK companies with over 20 banks and over 100 Russian oligarchs.

Last month, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands punished four Dutch companies and eight individuals for violating the EU sanctions against Russia within the period from 2014 to 2017 imposed due to the construction of the Kerch Bridge to Russian-occupied Crimea.