The full text of my letter to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, today :

Dear Prime Minister, 26th October 2022

The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, my name is Graham Phillips. I was the first British citizen to be sanctioned by the UK in July of this year, under The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, and was sanctioned because of my journalistic work from Donbass.

The actual government statement on sanctioning me was: “Graham PHILLIPS is a video blogger who has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine.”

This is clearly a subjective statement amounting to my being punished, because my work does not match the narrative of the situation in Ukraine which the UK Government wish to project. My sanctioning was at the initiative of former Foreign Secretary, and now former Prime Minister, Liz Truss. My sanctioning took the form of an asset freeze, and was imposed after a UK Government dossier was compiled on me, listing numerous brazenly false statements about myself, my work, my status, my properties. The UK Government sanctioning dossier further admitted that sanctioning me violated multiple of my Rights, as a UK citizen, under several separate Articles. The sanctions were further imposed with spite, and malice, with the stated aim of denying me access to ‘essential personal services in the UK’. The sanctions completely eliminated my earnings, closed platforms on which I – a crowdfunded British journalist – supported myself, froze, even closed, my bank accounts. They were imposed with reckless inhumanity, taking no account of my dependents, my obligations in the UK, my property.

Further, the UK Government sanctions designated me as an ‘enemy of the state’, resulting in a flood of death threats against myself, and my family. I immediately appealed my sanctioning, but after now three months of illegal sanctions on me, there is no result to that. In those three months, there have now been three UK Prime Ministers. The first was Boris Johnson, who was already on the way out at the imposition of my sanctions, the second, Liz Truss who you yourself have stated Mr Sunak, made mistakes which you have vowed to ‘fix’.

I am asking you to ‘fix’ the mistake Liz Truss made by imposing sanctions on me. Not only to lift the sanctions, but to make me an acceptable offer of compensation for the untold damage these illegal sanctions have caused to myself, my family. And further, to apologise. I am a British citizen who deserves to be treated with respect, and dignity, like every British citizen. And not only this: “

Only four of the 63 clauses in Magna Carta are still valid today – 1 (part), 13, 39 and 40. Of enduring importance to people appealing to the charter over the last 800 years are the famous clauses 39 and 40:

“No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.

“To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.”

Sanctions are a criminal punishment. The UK Government does not have the right to punish a British citizen without adhering to the law of the land. The law of the land is that charges must be presented, and that citizen must then be given the opportunity to defend themself in a court of law. This applies to me, as it does to every British citizen. The act of Liz Truss in sanctioning me was not only immoral, and illegal, but it rode roughshod over one of the tenets, one of the very fundaments of our society – our principle of law and order, our system of justice and due judicial procedure.

The UK sanctioning their own citizen because they ‘didn’t like his journalism’ has caused criticism, consternation, ridicule of the UK across the world. It is a symptom of this recent, chaotic period in our politics which has damaged every single UK citizen, and our great country’s standing. It is a period which we all now hope is over, under your leadership, Mr Sunak.

I have worked here in Donbass for over 8 years. My journalistic work from here has from the beginning been motivated by integrity, an unwavering desire to show the truth of the situation here, and British values of kindness, decency, honesty.

No British citizen has a deeper and more profound experience, or knowledge, of the situation here in Donbass. I believe the position of the UK Government has been, and continues to be, entirely incorrect, misguided, mistaken in relation to Donbass, and Russia in general. I would be happy to speak to UK Government Ministers with the aim of sharing actual information on the realities of the situation, education. My journalistic work for these 8 plus years has not only at all times adhered to professional journalistic standards, but further been predicated on simply filming things, without censor, or agenda. On the subject of journalism, I refer you to the words of the esteemed Mr Peter Hitchens, October 23rd, 2022 –

“Now Liz Truss has gone, can we get rid of the lawless sanctions her Foreign Office imposed on Graham Phillips? In free countries, punishment follows a fair trial.” I now await, and expect, the illegal sanctions imposed on me by the UK Government to be lifted immediately. As a Brexit supporter, and patriotic British person, I have taken, and continue to take, every effort to resolve this situation ‘internally’ – that is within the UK. However, if this is not possible, I will go to the European Court of Human Rights. However, Mr Sunak, I hope that you will take the correct decision here, immediately revoke my sanctions, and further apologise, and offer a level of compensation commensurate with the UK Government attempt to illegally destroy the lives of a UK citizen.

I add as a footnote, that the sanctions on me, imposed out of incompetence, spite, evil, have failed completely. The sanctions were designed to damage me, to stop my work. That has emphatically not happened, not only have I continued working, but the attention generated by placing sanctions on me has helped my work reach a new, and wider audience across the world. I was brought up to believe that liars and cheats never prosper, and this has indeed proven to be the case. My work is motivated by truth, and humanity, the dark forces which the UK Government unleashed on me to try to stop that have been a complete, ignominious failure, a mistake. I hope to receive communication from the UK Government in the nearest future, that the mistake made in sanctioning me has been fixed. And for the rest, we will deal with that down the line – I am always contactable, always willing to engage in meaningful aims, to do what I can to help people see the truth.

There is a famous Russian expression, Mr Sunak, that whoever has the truth on their side, that person is stronger.

Yours, Graham Phillips