The UK has imposed its largest package of sanctions to date against Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement published on Thursday, October 17.
An additional 18 shadow fleet ships will be barred from UK ports and unable to access British maritime services, bringing the total number of oil tankers sanctioned to 43.
At the European Political Community Summit in July, the UK Prime Minister announced the shadow fleet call to action. On Thursday, the US and Canada joined 44 European countries plus the EU in working together to tackle the risks posed by the shadow fleet.
The FCDO said the oil tankers targeted in this latest round of sanctions have transported an estimated US$4.9 billion in the last year alone. A significant number of the ships targeted by the UK to date have been forced to sit idling uselessly outside ports across the world, unable to continue pouring money into the Russian war effort.
Many of the targeted tankers belong to Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company.
Alongside action against the shadow fleet, the UK is sanctioning four more LNG tankers and Russian gas company Rusgazdobycha.
This new shadow fleet package comes in the weeks following recent UK actions to sanction both Russian cyber-crime gang Evil Corp, and Russian troops found to be using chemical weapons on the front lines in Ukraine. The FCDO said each package is designed to target a distinct aspect of Russia’s malign behaviour and reinforce the UK’s commitment to global security and the rule of law.
The names of the sanctioned oil and gas tankers are as follows:
NS Bora
Atlas
Moskovsky Prospect
NS Arctic
Callisto
SCF Baikal
SCF Samotlor
Suvorovsky Prospect
Eastern Pearl
Kudos Stars
Sea Fidelity
Stratos Aurora
Turbo Voyager
Azure Celeste
Varuna
Sai Baba
Artemis
Antaeus
Marshal Vasilevskiy
Velikiy Novgorod
Mulan
Everest Energy