The Russian authorities have decided to ban the entry into their territory of senior officials of British companies in the defense sector, in a new gesture of protest from Moscow over the supply of armaments from London to Ukraine.
In particular, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has added seven citizens of the United Kingdom linked to military companies to its "blacklist", among them three officials of Rotron Aerospace, Alex Head, Kev Oliver and George Zambellas.
The sanctions also reach Robert Gascoyne, executive director of MGI Engineering, Neil Appleton, top executive of the drone manufacturer Malloy Aeronautics, as well as Paul Webb, director and cofounder of the reconnaissance drone producer Tekever UK, and Julian Cracknell, director of technology and information at BAE Systems.
Moscow frames this decision as a direct response "to the hostile and anti-Russian policy of London, which includes an intensified effort to flood the neofascist clique" of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski with weapons.
"These companies supply the Kiev regime with weapons and military technologies that are used to launch attacks inside Russia", the Ministry has emphasized, insisting that the sending of missiles and drones pursues as its ultimate objective "to inflict the maximum damage" on Russia.
The department headed by Russian diplomacy has also lashed out against London's "purely exploitative and opportunistic approach" toward Ukraine, considering that its priority is to generate profits for British private companies and their pressure groups. At the same time, it reproaches that the Labour Party maintains, in its view, a "Russophobic obsession" that "differs little from that of its conservative predecessors".
The military assistance provided by the United Kingdom to Ukraine has prompted repeated complaints from Moscow, which accuses London of seeking "confrontation" and "prolonging the conflict" unleashed by the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022.