The British Advertising Association reacted to the sanctions announced by the British government today, urging the industry to stop Russia from accessing its services.
The sanctions come in response to Putin’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions today following sham referendums.
Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association, said: “UK advertising and marketing companies still providing services to Russia should urgently take note of today’s announcement by the UK government. As an industry trade body, we fully support these measures, as well as the decision of many companies that have already stopped trading with Russia.
“Companies will break the law if they export advertising and marketing services to Russia or to persons connected to Russia once the legislation comes into force, with limited exceptions. We urge businesses to act now to prevent illegal trade. We will continue to work with the government to ensure these sanctions have the maximum impact on Putin’s regime while minimizing disruption to UK businesses and ensuring legitimate and necessary business continues.
Putin today announced the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia following sham referendums.
Under new sanctions, the British government hopes that Russia will lose access to key Western services on which it depends, including advertising, as well as IT consultancy services, architectural services, engineering services and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activities.
With these sanctions, the UK is acting in concert with its international partners to target key sectors of the Russian economy. The new measures will increase economic pressure on the Russian regime by targeting vulnerabilities and disrupting crucial supply chains.
The UK has also banned the export of nearly 700 products crucial to Russia’s industrial and technological capabilities.
In addition, the British Foreign Secretary summoned the Russian Ambassador, Andrey Kelin, to protest in the strongest terms against the illegal annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.
