New sanctions have been introduced against 18 Russian oil tankers and four liquefied natural gas tankers, according to the website of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
As the message emphasizes, these are “the largest sanctions against Putin’s shadow fleet to date.” “Great Britain is striking at the very center of Russian energy revenues that finance Putin’s war… The Foreign Secretary continues his personal mission to stop the entire spectrum of Russia’s harmful activities,” the message reads.
The British government said a further 18 Russian shadow fleet vessels would be banned from UK ports and denied access to world-leading British maritime services, bringing the total number of sanctioned oil tankers to 43.
“The shadow fleet seeks to undermine sanctions and represents a clear and real danger…. Great Britain’s relentless actions against the shadow fleet are depriving Putin’s war machine of its most important revenues. In the past year alone, the oil tankers sanctioned today have transported an estimated $4.9 billion worth of goods. A significant number of vessels subject to British sanctions have been forced to sit outside ports around the world, unable to continue pouring money into Putin’s military treasury,” the message emphasizes.
At the summit of the European Political Community in July, the Prime Minister announced a call to action against the shadow fleet, and today the US and Canada have already joined 44 European countries and the EU in working together to eliminate the risks posed by the shadow fleet.
Along with actions against the shadow fleet, Great Britain is introducing sanctions against four more LNG tankers and the Russian gas company JSC Rusgazdobycha. “We continue to increase pressure on Russia’s beleaguered gas industry, as flagship company Gazprom posted a significant net loss of $6.9 billion in 2023 – its first annual loss in over 20 years,” the government said.
It is noted that the new package of sanctions was adopted a few weeks after the recent actions of Great Britain both against the Russian cyber group Evil Corp and against Russian troops exposed in the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Foreign Minister David Lammy stated the need to fight the harmful activities of the Russian Federation at every step, “whether it is illegal methods of replenishing Putin’s military budget, whether it is their use of cyber attacks, or whether it is barbarism on the front line in Ukraine.”
“Britain is leading the fight against Putin’s desperate and dangerous attempts to keep his energy revenues, while his shadow fleet threatens coastlines across Europe and the world. I set myself the task of restraining the Kremlin by closing the web around Putin and his mafia state, using all the tools at my disposal,” he said.
The Department for Transport is working with the Joint Maritime Safety Center (JMSC) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to force shadow fleet vessels suspected of having questionable insurance to provide details of their insurance status when transiting the English Channel .
Also, any entity that promotes and supports Russia’s harmful activities may be subject to sanctions, the message says.
