Britain is, in practice, helping Russia with one hand and demanding Georgia’s sacrifice with the other, said Rati Ionatamishvili, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, commenting on reports that the UK government has softened sanctions against Russia.

“We know that at a time when peace in Ukraine was closest, the main catalyst for continuing the war turned out to be the British Prime Minister. Now Britain itself is easing sanctions against Russia and, by their own logic, they are encouraging Russian attacks in Ukraine. This is where British governance has ended up today, and if anyone approves of this, they are putting themselves in a very uncomfortable position. On the other hand, when Britain is, on the one hand, effectively helping Russia and on the other hand demanding sacrifice from Georgia, we should consider what position our country would be in today if there were no national government here. When making this decision, they did not care at all about the fate of either Ukraine or the Ukrainian people,” Ionatamishvili said.

For context, two days ago media reported that the government of the United Kingdom had eased sanctions related to Russian crude oil. In particular, it allowed imports of aviation fuel and diesel produced from Russian crude oil, if they are processed in third countries.

However, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that sanctions on Russian oil remain in force and that the new measures only involve phased, targeted exemptions.

According to Starmer, this does not represent any easing of existing sanctions.

“What we announced yesterday is a new, tough sanctions package. It includes new bans on maritime services for liquefied natural gas and new restrictions on refined petroleum products originating from Russia. At the same time, we issued two targeted short-term licenses to ensure the phased implementation of new sanctions and to protect British consumers. This is standard practice. These are new sanctions being implemented in stages. There is absolutely no removal of existing sanctions, and we will continue working with our allies on additional sanctions packages,” Starmer said.