- UK travel technology firm fined more than £1 million for breaching UK financial sanctions against Russia.
- Sabre Global Technologies Limited made funds and economic resources available to a designated Russian airline for seven months in 2022, and tested alternative payment routes to get around UK sanctions.
- Third penalty issued under OFSI’s new settlement policy, as the UK continues ironclad support of Ukraine.
The £1 million fine has been levied against a technology firm – Sabre Global Technologies Limited (SGTL) – that repeatedly breached UK financial sanctions.
The action by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) – part of HM Treasury – underlines the UK’s increasingly robust enforcement of the Russia sanctions regime in support of Ukraine and sends clear compliance lessons to industry.
The penalty is also the first issued by OFSI for a circumvention offence, and comes as the UK steps up enforcement action on those seeking to evade our sanctions regime.
SGTL, which provides travel technology services, continued to provide Russian carrier Ural Airlines access to its Global Distribution System service for seven months after it was designated by the UK in May 2022. SGTL was notified of the designation on the day it took effect.
After payments to its UK bank were blocked for sanctions concerns, SGTL explored alternative ways of receiving payments from Ural Airlines.
This included asking Ural Airlines to send a test payment to a non-UK SGTL bank account, intending for future settlements to be routed through this account. This amounted to circumvention of UK sanctions.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said
Those who seek to evade our sanctions regime and support Putin’s cronies should be in no doubt, we will come after you.
It is vital we support Ukraine and continue to ramp up pressure on Russia, as every pound flowing into Putin’s war chest is being used to fuel conflict in Europe and undermine our security.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said
Our support for Ukraine is ironclad.
This largest ever penalty for breaches of financial sanctions since Russia’s 2022 illegal invasion sends a clear message – we will take decisive action against those who break UK financial sanctions and help fund Russia’s war machine.
The UK alone has sanctioned more than 3300 individuals, businesses and ships under the Russia sanctions regime.
This latest action follows sanctions packages in May which targeted the infrastructure underpinning Russia’s war economy, including crypto exchanges and maritime services.
SGTL has been fined a total of £1,000,920.59 for breaches of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
More information
- The penalty notice is available at Imposition of Monetary Penalty – Sabre Global Technologies Limited (SGTL)
- In line with OFSI’s enforcement guidance, the case was assessed to be “most serious.” SGTL actively circumvented UK financial sanctions, continued to provide services to Ural Airlines for several months after potential breaches had been identified, and directly undermined the purpose of the sanctions regime by providing an economic resource to a designated person.
- At the time of the breaches, SGTL faced a number of compliance issues, including in relation to staffing and process. OFSI found that SGTL lacked effective senior oversight of sanctions and was unable to properly assess or mitigate its sanctions risks.
- SGTL made a voluntary disclosure to OFSI, cooperated with the subsequent investigation, and have undertaken remediation to improve their future compliance with sanctions.
- This was the third penalty resolved under transitional arrangements in OFSI’s new settlement policy, introduced in February 2026.