Sanctions relating to Russia: Where businesses can go for support

What is the state of play and the impact on businesses?

Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK government has announced sanctions including freezing assets from all of Russia’s major banks and hi-tech exports. For the latest list of UK sanctions visit GOV.UK ‘UK Sanctions against Russia’.

The CBI is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and continues to engage with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Department of International Trade (DIT) as well as our European counterparts, on the sanctions being imposed against Russia and its impact on business.

Further to this engagement, CBI Economics has produced a briefing analysing the impact on the UK economy via four main channels: energy (and other commodities), trade, financial links and confidence.

Where can businesses go for further support from government?

Following the UK government announcing sanctions, guidance on the UK’s sanctions regime relating to Russia has been published. The guidance includes information on the suspensions of dual use goods for those who use export licenses.

Further to this guidance, the government has asked the Export Support Service (ESS) to support business who have queries and concerns. If you have a question about trading with Ukraine or Russia use the dedicated online service or call 0300 303 8955.

For those businesses that still have British nationals in Russia and Ukraine please refer to the linked embassy pages for more information.

Cyber Security – be prepared

Cyber security is always front of mind for any modern business. Following the events in Ukraine, the CBI has spoken to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) about how businesses can improve their cyber resilience during periods of heightened threat.

Although the NCSC advises against making knee jerk decisions on cyber security during periods of heightened threat, there are critical actions businesses can take to protect themselves quickly, as well as support long-term planning. Below are links to relevant NCSC guidance to help your business’s cyber resilience.

• Advice for board’s on how to manage cyber risk:
• Advice relating to current tensions
• Advice for SMEs
• Advice to tackle ransomware

Next Steps

The CBI will continue to engage with the government and is currently collating business insight to feed into government. Please feed in any impacts to your business to Kristy Sandino, Head of International at the CBI.