Brussels Expands Russia Sanctions, Blacklists Ships, Energy Giant and Drone Firms

EU's 17th package of anti-Russian sanctions includes restrictions against 189 tankers used for maritime transport of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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LNG tanker

These vessels are allegedly used by Russia to circumvent existing Western sanctions. Sailing under flags of third countries, they deliver Russian energy resources to foreign buyers. The proceeds, according to the document, are used by the Kremlin to finance ongoing hostilities in Ukraine. The sanctioned ships, the EU notes, are part of Russia’s so-called "shadow fleet."

The updated blacklist includes three LNG tankers:

• North Moon,
• North Ocean,
• and North Light.

The dredging vessel Tong Yuan and two heavy-lift ships — Nan Feng Zhi Xing and Ocean 28 were also affected. The vast majority of the sanctioned tankers are used to transport Russian oil and petroleum products.

The vessels that have been added to the EU sanctions list will not be allowed to enter European ports. Western companies are also prohibited from providing any services to the owners of these ships, including insurance, repairs, and maintenance, the document concludes.

The EU also sanctioned Russian energy giant Surgutneftegaz. Other additions include:

• insurance company VSK,
• gold miner Atlas Mining (formerly Petropavlovsk),
• the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant,
• several drone manufacturers: Airburg, Stratim, Mikrob, Finko, Aerofregat.

In total, the 17th sanctions package targets 75 individuals and legal entities from Russia, Belarus, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Details

The Russian shadow fleet is a fleet of hundreds of vessels operated by Russia to evade policing following the enaction of the 2022 Russian crude oil price cap sanctions enacted by the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shadow or grey or dark fleets already existed, used by Iran and Venezuela to try to get around international sanctions. Russia was aware that any sanctions against their country would result in a need to control tankers to export crude and processed oil. Tankers approaching their end of life span were purchased by Russia, Russian oil companies or opportunists who could then rent them out for a large fee to maintain the flow of oil exports. The price of old tankers rose, with vendors making large profits from their sales. By the end of 2022 there were over 600 ships in the shadow fleet, 400 of which were crude oil tankers. Since then the numbers have increased with estimates of 1,100 to 1,400 ships by December 2023. Only 118 of them have been sanctioned by the United States, European Union, or United Kingdom with only three sanctioned by all three according to the Kyiv School of Economics