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The UK is to target 11 more Russian-linked oil tankers with sanctions, as part of a strategy that some of Ukraine’s western allies believe has proved effective at undermining the ability of the Kremlin to export crude.
Western officials are increasingly confident that targeting individual tankers with sanctions is thwarting Russia’s ability to ship oil more effectively than focusing on the companies that own or operate vessels that Moscow uses to circumvent western restrictions on oil sales.
The US has imposed sanctions on 42 Russian-linked oil tankers, mainly in January and February of this year.
Analysis by the Financial Times suggests the amount of Russian oil carried by these vessels has dropped from nearly 9mn barrels in November to 1mn in June.
The British government only got the power to apply sanctions against ships, rather than their owners or managers, in May.
Until this week, the UK had only targeted four Russian-linked oil tankers. The EU imposed sanctions on 17 vessels in June.
These vessels are part of Russia’s so-called dark or shadow fleet of oil tankers: ships notable for opaque ownership structures that make it difficult to ascertain who controls them, or force them to follow western laws.
The vessels, often old, have grown to almost 600, making up about 10 per cent of all oil tankers globally, according to the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. The ships are often thinly insured or uninsured.
Announcing the UK sanctions against the further 11 tankers, Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, said: “We will not allow Russia’s shadow fleet, and the dirty money it generates, to flow freely through European waters and put our security at risk.”
Benjamin Hilgenstock, an oil sanctions expert at the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, said: “It turns out that if you put the name that’s painted on the side of the ship on the sanctions list, then it’s much harder for the Russian oil exporters to use these vessels.”
The move by the UK, US and EU to target individual tankers marks a more aggressive approach to curbing Russian oil exports.
Under a price cap regime introduced in late 2022, Ukraine’s allies sought to keep Russian oil in the market to avert a damaging jump in prices, while limiting the amount of revenue Moscow would receive for sales of crude.
Cargoes of Russian crude could only access western services such as insurance if sales were capped below $60 a barrel. Similar restrictions were introduced for Russian refined oil products in February 2023.
While initially successful at curbing Moscow’s funds, western officials estimate Russia has spent $7bn on dark fleet vessels, allowing them to circumvent the price cap measures. In particular, Russia has been able to sell large volumes of crude above the cap to India and China.
Craig Kennedy, an oil expert at Harvard university who first identified the effectiveness of placing sanctions on individual tankers, said: “If the UK can sideline tankers worth hundreds of millions of dollars with the stroke of a pen, Moscow will think twice before spending more precious cash to maintain its rapidly attriting fleet.”
In addition to undermining Russia’s oil revenues, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said a number of vessels used by Russia were also alleged to “double as . . . listening stations, while others are believed to be transporting weaponry to Russia”.