It is necessary to sanction not only individual vessels, but also the entire vertical infrastructure, — Vlasyuk
28.01.2026 - 17:20
The Russian oil export system is still adapting, including through the “shadow fleet” and opaque routes.
This was reported by the Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy Vladislav Vlasyuk.
According to him, the volume of Russian oil on tankers, which is stuck waiting for buyers, has increased, but not to the extent reported.
It is now about 300 million barrels against the average level of about 260 million barrels for the Russian Federation.
“Why is this so? When Russia or tanker operators do not declare the port of destination, there is no ETA in the tracking data. As a result, such cargoes automatically remain classified as crude at sea beyond the standard transit time. This creates the impression that significant volumes are “stuck at sea”, although in many cases it is about logistical uncertainty, finding a buyer or waiting for an unloading window,” Vladislav Vlasyuk noted.
He also emphasized that the impact of sanctions is certainly there — they complicate logistics, increase transit times and increase costs. But so far this impact is not as it is sometimes presented.
“The Russian export system is still adapting, in particular due to the shadow fleet and opaque routes. It is important that we see this clearly thanks to the high-quality work of analysts who analyze not only the overall figures, but also how they are formed,” the commissioner added.
According to him, it is now fundamentally important to sanction not individual vessels, but the entire vertical infrastructure: the fleet, shipowners, operators, insurers, managers and captains of tankers-violators. He also added that the President of Ukraine constantly emphasizes this.
“At the same time, it is necessary to physically stop tankers-violators, and not just record them on lists,” Vladyslav Vlasyuk emphasized.
As previously reported by USM, the MoD Defense Intelligence has exposed another 66 vessels of the “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation, Iran, and Venezuela. Military intelligence of Ukraine has also revealed the activities of tankers from the network of the Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd group of companies (Cyprus) and Cymare Navigation FZC (UAE).
