Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)

Rule Changes

Designating authority for the May 2026 package

Russia recruits women from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America with promises of catering and hospitality work, then puts most of them on a Shahed drone assembly line in Tatarstan. On May 5, 2026, the United Kingdom first applied human-trafficking sanctions to the pipeline, designating 35 people and entities tied to Alabuga Start programme and firms in Russia, China, and Thailand supplying drone components.

Updated May 31

Rule Changes

Issuer and policy owner of UK foreign-policy sanctions designations

Britain just named names in Syria's ugliest post-Assad story: who helped kill civilians, and who paid for the machinery of abuse. The UK's new package freezes assets, bans travel, and blocks them from UK business.

Updated May 15