Economy 7 March 2022, 9:55am

Intelligence report: Russia targeting Ukraine's communications infrastructure

Portfolio

The latest intelligence update by the British Ministry of Defence shows that Ukrainian internet access is "highly likely being disrupted" as a result of Russian strikes.

The intelligence report shows the following:

Russia is probably targeting Ukraine’s communications infrastructure in order to reduce Ukrainian citizens’ access to reliable news and information.
Russia reportedly struck a TV tower in Kharkiv yesterday, suspending broadcasting output. This follows a similar strike on a TV tower in Kyiv on 01 March 2022.
Ukrainian internet access is also highly likely being disrupted as a result of collateral damage from Russian strikes on infrastructure. Over the past week, internet outages have been reported in Mariupol, Sumy, Kyiv and Kharkiv.

UK seeks to ramp up sanctions

British lawmakers will today vote on government amendments to the so-called Economic Crime Bill, meant to allow the UK to

move faster and harder when sanctioning oligarchs and businesses associated with the Russian Government,

according to a statement.

“Punishing sanctions are meaningless until properly implemented, and these changes will allow us to pursue [Vladimir] Putin’s allies in the U.K. with the full backing of the law, beyond doubt or legal challenge,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Among other things, the changes will “remove the test of ‘appropriateness’ for designations, enabling the government to act more quickly and make changes to further facilitate the designations of groups of individuals.”