The UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels.I get that things aren't entirely simple, but there was a great enthusiasm for sanctions at the beginning - everyone was very proud at the sacrifice, even some rich interests were being targeted - and that enthusiasm, along with (presumably) strong enforcement, faded fairly quickly.
Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to £2.2bn in 2023, the same record value as the previous year, up from £434.2m in 2021.
It was all very noble at the beginning, but we're talking about real money here, lads.
Maybe I am diagonising the problem incorrectly, but we were promised that all the sanctions would effectively cripple Russia and what happened to that?