Ukraine imposes sanctions on 91 vessels of russian shadow fleet

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree implementing the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on 91 ships that are part of the russian "shadow fleet".

This is announced in a statement from the Office of the President, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

It is noted that russia used these vessels 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.

This is evidenced by the results of monitoring in the Black, Red and Baltic Seas.

"The sanctioned vessels sailed under the flags of about 20 countries. Among them, only one was russian, and the rest were 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," the report says.

Ukraine will provide relevant information to these states, and will also work with partners on further synchronization of sanctions in their jurisdictions.

The Office of the President said that 27 vessels from this list are already under sanctions by partners: the United States, Great Britain, Switzerland and the European Union.

Work on the introduction of sanctions against the remaining 64 will continue.

According to the report, imposing sanctions on the shadow fleet is a priority, as it allows putting 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 be carried out quickly and without exceptions. Each such vessel must be considered as an element of financing the Russian military machine," stressed Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Presidential Advisor and Commissioner for Sanctions Policy.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that thanks to the actions of Ukraine and a number of partner countries, a fifth of the so-called "shadow fleet" has stopped, which is why the aggressor country of russia is forced to attract new vessels.