LONDON, UK – The UK has banned the export of video game controllers and joysticks to Russia, targeting their use in piloting drones for attacks on Ukraine, as part of a sweeping new sanctions package.
Announced by the Foreign Office on Thursday, the move is part of 150 new trade restrictions aimed at choking off Russia’s access to critical technologies and materials fueling its war machine.
The European Union had earlier introduced a similar ban on consumer gaming devices.
The UK sanctions extend to software used in oil and gas exploration, as well as chemicals, electronics, machinery, metals, and advanced components such as electronic circuits—materials that can be weaponized for use in Russia’s defense industry.
“Gaming consoles will no longer be repurposed to kill in Ukraine,” said Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty. “Putin thought he could use British markets to boost his war effort—buying harmless goods and turning them into tools of war. Today’s action clamps down on this sinister trade.”
The UK’s latest measures also aim to weaken Russia’s energy sector—its primary revenue stream—by restricting access to exploration software, a key tool in sustaining its oil and gas operations.
“Cutting off energy revenues will drain Putin’s war chest,” Doughty added. “These new sanctions will also degrade his ability to build and maintain advanced weaponry.”
This latest crackdown forms part of coordinated actions by the UK, US, and EU since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions were unveiled just hours before the UK condemned a deadly Russian missile strike on Kyiv that killed nine people and injured dozens—an attack that came as Ukrainian, UK, US, and European leaders met in London to discuss ceasefire efforts.
“While Ukrainian ministers were in London working towards peace, Putin’s Russia was attacking the Ukrainian people,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on X.
