“Our visit aims to continue that partnership to prevent these battlefield goods from reaching Russia,” said Kumar Iyer, Director General of Economics, Science, and Technology at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) at the press conference jointly held with Head of the US State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination Jim O’Brien at the British Embassy in Tbilisi.

“We are grateful for all the steps already taken by the Georgian government to prevent circumvention and in recognizing the main objectives of this visit. The other goal is that we see and know that the Russian government will not stop. It will continue to try and find different ways.

One of the reasons for this visit is to continue that partnership to prevent these battlefield goods from reaching Russia. Ambassador O’Brien spoke about the importance of these sanctions. I would like to say a few words about the impact it has on Russia.

First, it has an impact on the battlefield. We know that a lot of Russian weapons rely on Western components that have been sanctioned by us. And we know from reviewing the battlefield from the reports that come that the components can no longer be sourced from Western countries. They are using poor-quality components, and the effectiveness of these weapons is reducing. We have been very open and public about the components that we worry about, and the details, if you are interested, are available on our website. It is the same 38 goods that the US, the UK, and the EU are focused on.

Secondly, I want to reiterate and underline the impact that our broader sanctions have on the Russian economy as a whole. Russia was an economy that used to run on repeated large-budget circuses. This year the forecast is a budget deficit of 2%, and it already exceeded that according to our numbers within the first four months this year.

We know that in the first quarter of this year, Russia’s energy revenues fell by 44-45%, and we know that of all the sovereign wealth fund and various assets Russia has stockpiled, 60% have been frozen. We should not forget and always remember why we are doing that. It is to shorten the war and to prevent the needless killing of thousands of people,” he said.