As I said in my opening remarks, there are areas where SIs are already present and there may be a degree of overlap in the application, but what we are seeking to do with all these SIs is to ensure that our regulations are fully comprehensive. It is not that we were in the market to suddenly start exporting items which add to the suppression of domestic populations—I think we have known for a long time the challenges that the people of Russia face. As we evolve, go forward and progress our sanctions, it is important that we are as detailed as we can be. Previous sanctions may have covered aspects of those limitations, but we want to make sure that we are covering every element that we can.
Both noble Lords highlighted how those who are having sanctions imposed on them are looking at innovative pathways to overcome them. We have to be dynamic in responding to that. The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, raised the issue of other partners beyond our key G7 partners, and that is important. I fully accept that there will be issues; different countries have different perspectives, as we can see from looking at votes taking place within multilateral fora, including the one on the sham referenda. It is noticeable—I am being very up front here—that some countries are now not as forward-leaning as they were previously, and it is important that they get a consistent and consolidated sense from both your Lordships’ House and the other place of unity and purpose. Of course questions are there, but I cannot emphasise how important it is for them to see this unanimity. There are partners who are looking at this as the war continues with regard to their own domestic challenges as well. Therefore, the more aligned we can be with those partners who have sanctions regimes, the more effective we will be. However, I fully accept that there will be ways and means in which those having sanctions imposed on them will look to circumvent them.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, asked about the McFaul group. The working group is an independent group of sanctions experts. Government officials have regular contact and close exchanges with the group, but if there are specific points perhaps the noble Lord will raise them with me and I will seek to answer them more specifically.
The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, talked about circumvention, which I have already addressed in part. These regulations seek to close the gaps. I come back
to the whole issue of how we work with key partners. I will seek to provide more detail on the specific examples that the noble Lord raised.
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The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, asked about prosecutions that have taken place. Some are active and live. I do not have the exact figures with me today but I will certainly write to the noble Lord in that respect.
There are some other areas that I can share with noble Lords at this time. The noble Lords, Lord Collins and Lord Purvis, asked specifically about the impact of the sanctions regime on Russia itself. Russia’s GDP is expected to contract by 3.5% to 8.5% in 2022, compared with a previous pre-invasion forecast of 2.8%. The IMF predicts that the Russian economy will be 16% smaller than pre-invasion trends. More than 1,000 foreign businesses have either left, suspended or reduced operations in Russia since the operation began, and Russia’s manufacturing capability has been severely impacted; car production, for example, is down by 90% from pre-war levels. Another example is that Russia’s airlines are beginning to—I have an interesting word here—cannibalise aircraft. I think that means adapting from other places. It is a rather innovative and imaginative way of describing the challenges they are facing because of shortages of equipment.
The Ministry of Defence suggests that western sanctions on the export to Russia of components and technology are highly likely also to increase production costs. Mr Putin has already resorted to sending ancient Soviet Union equipment, such as decades-old T-62 tanks, into the conflict with Ukraine.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, raised the issue of FCDO staffing. I will share some figures with him. In December 2021 there were 48 substantive roles in the sanctions unit, which has now become a directorate. We have doubled the number of officials focused on our response and now have over 100 permanent staff delivering it. This does not include those working across FCDO and its overseas network who cover sanctions as part of their wider role, so there are people who have specialist roles within the sanctions team and others who will be part-working on sanctions and other areas, especially in our network. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has also doubled in size this financial year and continues to grow because it is evolving. I can assure noble Lords that the resourcing remains more than double the 44 full-time employees, so we are looking at 88 to 90 employees in that regard.
Both noble Lords raised the issue of alignment. Any differences, as I have alluded to, tend to be small and relate to specific items with larger categories of goods depending on the jurisdiction. The reason for the differences is largely to do with the differing but co-ordinating approaches by the UK, the EU and the US. In the early stages of the sanctions regime, as noble Lords will recall, we needed to adapt our own governance procedures. Again, I am grateful to noble Lords for the speed at which we were able to implement that.
To return to the issue of goods for internal repression, as I said earlier, many goods, even before the sanctions regime, were controlled through the export control
licence regime, but there will always be areas where we need to act. I have alluded to the fact that we need to ensure that these issues are as watertight as possible.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, raised the NCA. The former Prime Minister confirmed that we will set up a dedicated cell in the National Crime Agency for these purposes. I will get an update for the noble Lord on the specific operation of that unit. I know that is an issue that he has raised on number of occasions. There is undoubtedly a lot of work being done in this respect.
The noble Lord, Lord Collins, mentioned the upcoming PSVI conference and the importance of those survivor voices—those currently being suppressed but also those subjected to the worst kind of torture. Earlier this week I and my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary met the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, who was in London, and we had a detailed discussion of his requirements and about how quickly we can start looking at ensuring that those perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes—sexual violence in particular but more broadly, too—can be brought to justice. We stand very closely with the ICC and are fully supportive of the prosecutor and his team on the ground.
In recent weeks, including during the UN General Assembly week, I met the new prosecutor-general from Ukraine, and we identified the specific requirements of the prosecutor-general in-country. I will update noble Lords appropriately on this, but we are working very closely on their exact requirements.
If there are any more specific elements to the questions raised by noble Lords then I will of course write, as I have indicated I will on one or two issues. I end by thanking all three noble Lords who have participated in today’s debate. It is important that we stay very much aligned. I remain available to noble Lords to discuss particular issues or areas in more detail.
It is clear that we have seen an escalation by Russia—desperation, if I may put it that way—in the response that we are currently seeing from Mr Putin and the recent attempted annexation of, in effect, three territories is reflective of that response. On the missiles that were recently sent into Kyiv, it is extremely worrying that that was arguably the biggest missile launch on the city of Kyiv since the conflict began. I know Melinda Simmons, our excellent ambassador on the ground. We are looking at standing very firmly with Ukraine in the diplomacy effort that we are making and the defence co-operation that we are extending. We are also ensuring that we are working with international partners when it comes to the economic cost that we
can bring on Mr Putin and his friends in Russia itself. I am grateful for noble Lords’ strong support and I commend the regulations to the House.