Ukraine imposes new sanctions against tankers carrying Russian oil

The new sanctions apply to 91 ships that are part of the Russian Federation’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree putting into effect the NSDC’s decision on sanctions, the press service of the President’s Office reports.

“The Russian Federation used these ships to transport oil and oil products from Russian ports, in particular in Novorossiysk, Ust-Luz and Primorsk, to third countries. This was done in circumvention of sanctions by the European Union, G7 and other states,” the Office of the President noted.

The ships subject to sanctions sailed under the flags of about 20 countries. Among them, only one is Russian, and the rest are the flags of Panama, Liberia, Cameroon, Barbados, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Sierra Leone, Tonga, Palau, Guinea, Comoros, Bahamas, Indonesia, Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Guyana and Eswatini.

“Ukraine will provide relevant information to these states, and will also work with partners on further synchronization of sanctions in their jurisdictions. Twenty-seven vessels from this list are already under sanctions by partners: the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland and the European Union. Work on the introduction of sanctions on the remaining 64 will continue,” the OP added.

Government officials also noted that imposing sanctions on the shadow fleet is a priority, as it “allows us to put pressure on everyone who transports Russian oil.”

“Shadow fleet tankers are a key tool for circumventing oil sanctions, so their identification and the imposition of sanctions against them must be carried out quickly and without exception. Each such vessel must be considered an element of financing the Russian military machine,” said Vladyslav Vlasyuk, the presidential commissioner for sanctions policy.

Earlier, USM reported that the captain of the vessel, which was arrested in one of the Ukrainian ports, was informed of the suspicion.