Are Russian sanctions working?

Soaring gas and electricity prices are giving us an idea of the cost of imposing sanctions on Russia – a cost which may be worth bearing if it helps to defeat Russian aggression, but a cost nonetheless. But how complete and effective are the sanctions? Trade figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today reveal that Britain, at least for now, has achieved one of its chief objectives: it has weaned itself off Russian oil and gas. In June there were no imports of fuels from Russia. In the 12 months to February, by contrast, 5.9 per cent of Britain’s crude oil imports, 24.1 per cent of our refined oil imports and 4.9 per cent of gas imports came from Russia.

Overall, there were £33 million of goods imports from Russia in June, a 96.6 per cent fall since the average monthly total in the 12 months to February.