The shadow fleet of the Russian Federation is growing despite the sanctions

More and more tankers carrying Russian oil are beginning to disguise their activities.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the number of tankers transporting sanctioned oil from Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and Russia has almost doubled. This is reported by BRS analysts.

Thus, in two years, the number of so-called “shadow tankers” increased from approximately 400 vessels to more than 700 units. The growth of the illegal fleet is explained by the strengthening of sanctions. Already “tainted” by Russian oil, tankers continue to transport sanctioned raw materials, because they cannot resume legal activity due to sanctions.

At the same time, the strengthening of restrictions on oil from the Russian Federation is dealing a blow to the already existing carriers of Russian raw materials. Thus, in the first weeks of 2024, operators of offending tankers began to scrap vessels under the influence of sanctions.

Previously, USM wrote that the USA introduced new sanctions against a network of international companies involved in Rosneft smuggling.

Also recently, due to sanctions, Turkish companies began to stop paying money for Russian oil.