Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to set end date for imports of Russian diesel and jet fuel via third countries, published on 12 June 2026, what monitoring and enforcement measures will be used to verify that imported diesel and jet fuel are not derived from Russian crude oil after the licence expires.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
HMRC is responsible for enforcing the ban on imports of oil products refined in third countries from Russian-origin crude oil and investigating suspected offences.
HMRC uses a variety of proven methods to detect sanctions breaches, including: risk and intelligence-based checks on goods imported to the UK, auditing businesses involved in the trade of goods subject to sanctions; and collecting actionable intelligence from domestic and international law enforcement partners and the intelligence community.
Importers of diesel and jet fuel may be requested to present evidence of a good's supply chain. In some cases, HMRC officials may require the production of further information relating to the goods.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the consistency of scrutiny applied under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme to Russian-linked institutions compared with institutions linked to other foreign states.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government remains alert to the risk that foreign states may seek to use a range of organisations (including religious and cultural centres), proxies and influence networks, to advance their objectives in the UK.
The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) supports transparency around activity directed by foreign states. We have placed Russia and Iran on the enhanced tier of FIRS, requiring those carrying out any activity in the UK at the direction of the Russian or Iranian states to register or face criminal penalties.
The Government is focused on ensuring compliance with FIRS, including referring cases to the police where we believe a criminal offence has been committed. There will be an annual report on the operation of the scheme, including total numbers of registrations under the enhanced tier, which will be published later this year.
More recently, the Home Secretary has introduced a new designation power enabling her to designate bodies involved in foreign power threat activity, including state-linked proxies and affiliated structures. The UK has also imposed extensive sanctions in response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including sanctions against Vladimir Gundyayev (Patriarch Kirill), the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his public support for and endorsement of Russia's invasion.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps are being taken to ensure that organisations in the UK which may be acting at the direction of the Russian state or Russian state-controlled entities, such as the Russian Orthodox Church, are appropriately assessed for compliance with the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme established under the National Security Act 2023.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government remains alert to the risk that foreign states may seek to use a range of organisations (including religious and cultural centres), proxies and influence networks, to advance their objectives in the UK.
The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) supports transparency around activity directed by foreign states. We have placed Russia and Iran on the enhanced tier of FIRS, requiring those carrying out any activity in the UK at the direction of the Russian or Iranian states to register or face criminal penalties.
The Government is focused on ensuring compliance with FIRS, including referring cases to the police where we believe a criminal offence has been committed. There will be an annual report on the operation of the scheme, including total numbers of registrations under the enhanced tier, which will be published later this year.
More recently, the Home Secretary has introduced a new designation power enabling her to designate bodies involved in foreign power threat activity, including state-linked proxies and affiliated structures. The UK has also imposed extensive sanctions in response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including sanctions against Vladimir Gundyayev (Patriarch Kirill), the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his public support for and endorsement of Russia's invasion.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential risk that Russian religious or cultural institutions operating in the UK may be used to facilitate foreign influence activity.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government remains alert to the risk that foreign states may seek to use a range of organisations (including religious and cultural centres), proxies and influence networks, to advance their objectives in the UK.
The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) supports transparency around activity directed by foreign states. We have placed Russia and Iran on the enhanced tier of FIRS, requiring those carrying out any activity in the UK at the direction of the Russian or Iranian states to register or face criminal penalties.
The Government is focused on ensuring compliance with FIRS, including referring cases to the police where we believe a criminal offence has been committed. There will be an annual report on the operation of the scheme, including total numbers of registrations under the enhanced tier, which will be published later this year.
More recently, the Home Secretary has introduced a new designation power enabling her to designate bodies involved in foreign power threat activity, including state-linked proxies and affiliated structures. The UK has also imposed extensive sanctions in response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including sanctions against Vladimir Gundyayev (Patriarch Kirill), the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his public support for and endorsement of Russia's invasion.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department assessed the implications for the UK's sanctions policy of importing jet fuel from the Jamnagar refinery in India; and what assessment has he made of the UK's need for that fuel shipment; what consideration was given to alternative non-Russian-linked sources of supply; and on what basis any licence or authorisation relating to that shipment was approved.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
On 20 May 2026, the UK introduced a new sanctions package to further target Russian revenues and degrade its ability to wage its illegal war in Ukraine and for the first time processed oil products refined from Russian crude in third countries have been banned. The UK Government published an Impact Assessment alongside the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, available on legislation.gov.uk.
Alongside this, a general trade licence, including for jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian crude, was issued to support a managed and phased implementation of complex restrictions, and to provide targeted, temporary flexibility to safeguard UK energy supply and global market stability.
The Government will continue to review the licence every two weeks. This involves continually assessing its impact on energy supply, market conditions and other relevant considerations, against our objective to revoke the licence as soon as is practicable. As part of this process, we have since set an end date of 1 January 2027.
The Secretary of State will consider each application for a trade licence on a case-by-case basis, with key consideration given to whether the proposed activity is consistent with the purposes of the sanctions as specified in Regulation 4 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The Secretary of State must act within the statutory framework Parliament has approved, the licensing power is exercised in a targeted and proportionate way.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2026 to question 13292 on Shipping: Russia, how many suspected shadow fleet vessels have been challenged for proof of insurance as they transit the English Channel.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 1 October 2024, 343 unique vessels have been challenged for proof of their insurance 849 times through the Voluntary Insurance Reporting Mechanism.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2026 to question 13292 on Shipping: Russia, what is the breakdown of the 173 vessels by flag status at the time of transit.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is unable to provide information on the flag status of the 173 vessels as it could compromise our ability to successfully take action in the future.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2026 to Question 759 on Russia: Shipping, if he will provide an exact number.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Since Question 759 was tabled, the UK has successfully interdicted the sanctioned oil tanker SMYRTOS. The UK has also supported multiple allied interdictions of sanctioned vessels in recent months.
We will not provide a running commentary or get into details of our decision-making process as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against sanctioned ships, only benefitting our adversaries.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her department plans to add further states to the enhanced tier listing of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As set out in the National Security Act 2023, the Secretary of State may make a specification under the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) where they consider it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom. To date, Iran and Russia are the only two countries to have been specified under the enhanced tier.
In reaching that decision, the Government considers a broad range of factors, including national security assessments.
Any additional enhanced tier specifications would be made through regulations laid before and approved by Parliament in the usual way. However, it would not be appropriate to comment now on which countries may or may not be specified in future.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria her department uses to determine which states qualify for the enhanced tier listing under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As set out in the National Security Act 2023, the Secretary of State may make a specification under the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) where they consider it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect the safety or interests of the United Kingdom. To date, Iran and Russia are the only two countries to have been specified under the enhanced tier.
In reaching that decision, the Government considers a broad range of factors, including national security assessments.
Any additional enhanced tier specifications would be made through regulations laid before and approved by Parliament in the usual way. However, it would not be appropriate to comment now on which countries may or may not be specified in future.