UK adds nine Russia-linked targets to chemical weapons sanctions list

LONDON, July 6, 2026 — The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it updated the UK Sanctions List with nine additions under the Chemical Weapons (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The new listings cover two entities, The State Research Institute of Military Medicine, known as GNIII VM, and SC Signal, plus seven individuals tied to those organizations.

The notice says GNIII VM is subordinate to the Main Military Medical Directorate of Russia’s Defense Ministry and is suspected of being responsible for, engaging in, supporting or promoting prohibited activity related to chemical weapons. SC Signal was also listed on similar grounds, with the UK saying it is associated with GNIII VM and the already designated State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, or GosNIIOKhT.

The seven newly listed individuals are Artur Aleksandrovich Zhirov, director of SC Signal; Vladimir Borisovich Kondratyev, director of GosNIIOKhT; Sergei Viktorovich Chepur, head of GNIII VM; Andrei Mikhailovich Antokhin, deputy director of SC Signal; Viktor Fedorovic Taranchenko, head of SC Signal’s 1st Scientific Research Centre; Ivan Sergeyevich Kravtsov, head of SC Signal’s 4th Scientific Research Department; and Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Makhlay, SC Signal’s chief scientist.

All nine designations were dated July 6, 2026. The two entities were hit with asset freezes and director disqualification sanctions, while the seven individuals were also made subject to travel bans, according to the notice.

The move broadens a UK chemical weapons sanctions architecture that already included GosNIIOKhT. On its sanctions database, the UK previously said GosNIIOKhT bore responsibility for the preparation and use of chemical weapons in the attempted assassination of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

The UK sanctions regime for chemical weapons is intended to deter the proliferation and use of such weapons and support implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to official guidance.