UK sanctions more Russian shadow fleet vessels — but they won't stop Moscow’s oil trade, says economist

Cover photo: FSRU “Marshal Vasilevskiy”

The UK expanded its sanctions on Russia’s “shadow fleet” on Oct. 17, with the latest package targeting 18 crude oil tankers, three LNG tankers, the gas company Rusgazdobycha, and Russia's only floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), “Marshal Vasilevskiy.”

The measures have added to the mounting regulatory restrictions on vessels transporting Russian oil sold above a price cap of $60 a barrel. In late 2022, an international coalition made up of the G7 countries, the European Union, and Australia imposed the cap in an effort to limit Moscow’s hydrocarbons income amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“The UK is leading the charge against Putin’s desperate and dangerous attempts to cling on to his energy revenues, with his shadow fleet placing coastlines across Europe and the world in jeopardy,” said UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. “I have made it my personal mission to constrain the Kremlin, closing the net around Putin and his mafia state using every tool at my disposal.”