Ukraine introduced sanctions against 91 sea vessels of the Russian shadow fleet

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a decree implementing the decision of the National Security and Defense Council regarding the application of sanctions against 91 sea vessels that are part of Russia's shadow fleet. The Russian Federation used these vessels to transport oil and oil products from Russian ports, in particular in Novorossiysk, Ust-Luz and Primorsk, to third countries. This happened to circumvent the sanctions of the European Union, G7 and other countries.

This is evidenced by the results of monitoring in the Black, Red and Baltic seas. Sanctioned ships 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 transfer relevant information to these states, and will also work with partners on further synchronization of sanctions in their jurisdictions. Twenty-seven ships from this list are already under the sanctions of partners: the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland and the European Union. Work on the introduction of sanctions against the remaining 64 will continue.

Sanctioning the shadow fleet is a priority, because it allows pressure on everyone who transports Russian oil and thus helps Russia obtain funds to finance the war against Ukraine. "Shadow fleet tankers are a key tool for circumventing oil sanctions, so their identification and the introduction of sanctions against them must happen quickly and without exception.