Keir Starmer has been urged to clampdown on a Glasgow shipping firm accused of helping Putin fund his war of terror in Ukraine. Campaigners want tougher sanctions on Russia by banning Seapeak Maritime from carrying the rogue state’s gas around Europe.
Peter Cooper, Secretary of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign in Scotland, said: “As long as UK-based companies like Seapeak Maritime continue to help Russia export its gas, the UK is failing to live up to its moral responsibility.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Putin is using cash from his country’s gas reserves to bankroll his illegal war. The UK responded in the same year by banning all ships with any Russian connection from entering UK ports.
Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy ramped up the sanctions this month with a fresh round of curbs against “shadow” oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers. However, UK firms are not banned from transporting Russian gas to other countries around the world.
Seapeak Maritime, based on Elliot Street in Glasgow near the Clyde, operates tankers such as the Yakov Gakkel which carries Russian gas from Siberia to Europe and their work is legal and does not breach any sanctions. Critics want the UK Government to close this loophole.
Over twenty pro-Ukraine NGOs, as well as SNP and Labour politicians, have signed a letter coordinated by the Razom We Stand group, which campaigns for a ban on Russian fossil fuels. The signatories, including Labour MSP Carol Mochan and SNP MSP Emma Roddick, are demanding sanctions on the shipping and insurance of Russian LNG.
The letter states: “We stand with Ukraine in calling for a just peace based on the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine. We support sanctions on Russian exports to reduce Russia’s ability to finance its war of aggression, including on its exports of climate damaging fossil fuels, mainly oil ($200bn) and natural gas ($71bn). Together these comprise over half of Russian exports by value.
“Russia is planning to massively expand its production and export of LNG from the Siberian Arctic Yamal Peninsula gas field. Yamal is estimated to hold 25% of the world’s gas reserves, the extraction of which would significantly contribute to global heating.”
The campaigners specifically mentioned “Glasgow-based corporation Seapeak” in their public declaration: “The UK government has banned the importation of Russian LNG. But it hasn’t sanctioned its shipping by UK-based businesses to third countries, including to the EU, nor has it sanctioned the insurance by City insurers of tankers engaged in the trade. We call on the UK government to ban the participation of UK-based companies in transporting or providing insurance for the shipping of Russian LNG. We call on both the Scottish and UK governments to deny any financial or other forms of assistance to all companies engaged in these activities.”
Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Executive Director of Razom We Stand, said: “Every shipment of Russian LNG that makes its way to European ports is another lifeline for Putin’s war machine, prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people. While bombs and missiles devastate our cities, it is these economic ties that fuel the Kremlin’s ability to wage war.
“By allowing UK-based firms to insure Russian LNG shipments, or those like Seapeak to transport it, the UK is indirectly financing the destruction of Ukrainian cities with missiles and bombs. The UK government must act decisively to cut off these financial flows and stop contributing to the devastation of our people and our future.”
Glasgow Greens MSP Patrick Harvie said: “It’s been over two and a half years since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, leaving hundreds of thousands dead or wounded. It’s completely unacceptable that after all this time there are still UK-based companies providing the economic support that allows Russia to continue financing this criminal war of aggression. The UK Government must end the complicity of UK-based companies, and move us away from our reliance on fossil fuels so that we’re never again beholden to dictatorships like Russia and Saudi Arabia.”
Seapeak Maritime, which is part of a wider global business, did not respond to the Record’s requests for comment. A FCDO Spokesperson said: “Sanctions by the UK and partners continue to have a devastating impact, costing the Russian state over $400 billion, equivalent to four years of funding for their illegal invasion of Ukraine. Just this month we unleashed the largest package of sanctions to date against Putin’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, which pose serious environmental and security risks to the international maritime order. This action, amongst others, is starving Putin’s war chest of energy revenues, and helping to degrade Russia’ military capabilities. The UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Sky News reporter Ed Conway wrote in June about trying to get a response from Seapeak: “When, after weeks of efforts to get a response, I visited their offices in Glasgow, I was met by a security guard who told me Seapeak would not see me without an appointment (which they were refusing to give me). Eventually I was told that if I would not leave they would call the police.”
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