EU moves against Russian shadow fleet, blacklists 40 vessels

European Union foreign ministers have decided to blacklist 40 tankers believed to be transporting Russian oil, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas announced. 

At the press conference concluding the ministerial meeting, she emphasized that the European Union now intends to sanction tankers without waiting for the approval of large sanction packages, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Russia’s “shadow fleet” refers to a large network of tankers and vessels that transport Russian crude oil and petroleum products while evading Western sanctions and price caps by hiding ship ownership, disabling tracking systems, using opaque flags of convenience, and avoiding Western insurance and services.

The shadow fleet has grown significantly since Western sanctions were introduced after Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine, with experts estimating hundreds of such vessels operating worldwide to sustain Russia’s oil export revenues despite restrictions.

The European Union has repeatedly targeted these vessels with successive sanctions packages that ban them from entering EU ports, prohibit EU maritime services to them, and expand the blacklist of shadow fleet ships and the companies that operate them to cut off revenue that finances Russia’s war economy. 

By Jeyhun Aghazada