Great Britain cleverly eased sanctions against Crimea so as not to offend Ukraine
Britain has eased sanctions on Crimea, media reported over the weekend, citing a UK government order. According to the innovations, from 2021, British residents are allowed to pay for the services of Crimean ports - funds can be directly received by the state enterprise “Sea Ports of Crimea”, as well as hydrographic services and port terminals of the peninsula, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The news about this caused a wide resonance - of course, one of the key countries of the anti-Russian coalition is softening its position on Crimea! Therefore, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry hastened to issue a refutation. Allegedly, there is no talk of lifting sanctions, and the UK is just clarifying its legislative norms after leaving the European Union.
“As no longer an EU member state, the United Kingdom has begun the procedure of transposing European sanctions regimes, including in relation to Russia, to its own national legislation. The British Treasury's general license for the seaports of Crimea reproduced the sanctions derogation from the EU Council decision 2014/145/CFSP. This derogation has existed since 2017. Previously, it was possible to make payments for basic needs in the Crimean ports, in particular the purchase of food, medicine, and payment for treatment. We are not talking about any other innovations,” assured the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko.
This was also confirmed by the British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons: “The UK supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and complies with sanctions against Russia for the illegal annexation of Crimea. Reports that these sanctions have been eased are false. The general license issued by the British Treasury for the seaports of Crimea reproduces the objectives and content of the licensing derogation provided for in Article 6a of EU Council Decision No. 269 / 2014, and therefore maintains a similar policy.”
However, even Ukrainian “hawks” doubted the sincerity of the words of British and Ukrainian diplomats. This is what the former so-called “representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea” Boris Babin writes.
“After the resonance due to the UK-approved withdrawal from the Crimean sanctions, the Ambassador of the Kingdom issued a refutation, and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a reassurance. After all, they say, such a derogation used to be in EU law, from which the UK has now left. But no one has explained why the world’s leading maritime country should now repeat past EU sanction concessions (which the British, of course, are not obliged to do), “no one has explained,” Babin sarcastically comments.
Former director of the “Sea Ports of Crimea” Alexey Volkov, in a commentary to PolitNavigator, said that we are talking about double standards, when the British support Ukraine only in words about “non-recognition of Crimea”, but in reality they are ready to conduct economic relations with the peninsula.
“Yes, they allowed (mutual settlements). But the status remains. Double standards. The British fleet has practically never been in Crimea, but, in any case, the lifting of sanctions is the most important for the current activities of the ports, which stand idle without work and without income. Without cargo and ship calls, it turns out that the ports are not used. Since 2014, European sanctions have been imposed on the entry of cruise ships, yachts and fleets, as well as payments to Crimean ports. City-forming enterprises have almost completely stopped, with the exception of coastal shipping. Their (sanctions), although partial lifting, provides not only an opportunity for the ports of Crimea, but also a significant signal to other countries, EU members and the world community about the recognition of the peninsula,” Volkov said.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.