The United Kingdom has imposed a record fine of more than £1 million ($1.3 million) on the British subsidiary of Sabre Corp. for violating sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is the largest financial penalty ever issued to a UK company under the country’s Russia sanctions regime.
According to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), Sabre’s UK business continued providing the sanctioned Russian airline Ural Airlines with access to its Global Distribution System (GDS) for seven months after the carrier was placed under sanctions in 2022.
The regulator said that after payments to Sabre’s UK bank account were blocked, the company sought alternative methods of receiving funds. OFSI stated that Sabre asked Ural Airlines to make a test payment to a bank account outside the United Kingdom, describing the arrangement as an attempt to circumvent sanctions.
“The company voluntarily disclosed this matter and fully cooperated with the regulator. We take our legal and ethical obligations seriously,” Sabre said in a statement.
OFSI added that the case “highlights the UK’s increasingly robust enforcement of sanctions against Russia in support of Ukraine and provides a clear lesson to industry on the importance of compliance.”
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