President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting a decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on 91 vessels that are part of Russia’s shadow fleet.
The Russian Federation used these vessels to transport oil and petroleum products from Russian ports, including Novorossiysk, Ust-Luga, and Primorsk, to third countries. This took place in circumvention of sanctions imposed by the European Union, the G7, and other states. The results of monitoring in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Baltic Sea confirm this.
The sanctioned vessels sailed under the flags of approximately 20 countries. Among them, only one vessel flew the Russian flag, while the others were registered under the flags of Panama, Liberia, Cameroon, Barbados, the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Sierra Leone, Tonga, Palau, Guinea, the Comoros, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Guyana, and Eswatini.
Ukraine will provide the relevant information to these states and will also work with partners to further synchronize sanctions within their jurisdictions. Twenty-seven vessels from this list are already under sanctions imposed by partners – the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the European Union. Work on imposing sanctions on the remaining 64 vessels will continue.
Imposing sanctions on the shadow fleet is a priority, as it makes it possible to put pressure on all those who transport Russian oil and thereby help Russia generate funds to finance the war against Ukraine.
“Shadow fleet tankers are a key instrument for circumventing oil sanctions; therefore, their identification and the imposition of sanctions against them must proceed swiftly and without exceptions. Each such vessel should be regarded as an element of financing Russia’s war machine,” Advisor – Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Sanctions Policy Vladyslav Vlasiuk said.