McGuinness: “Russia uses shadow ships to circumvent oil sanctions”

Brussels – Despite EU sanctions, Russian oil is sold thanks to shadow or ghost ships, not officially Russian but traceable to the Russian Federation, on whose behalf they do business. The European Union has to deal with an oil tanker fleet that is difficult to identify but real, Mairead McGuinness, commissioner for Financial Services, acknowledges in her response to a Parliamentary question. “Russia is using a shadow fleet of old oil tankers to transport its oil in an effort to circumvent EU sanctions and the Group of Seven (G7) oil price cap,” McGuinness admits.

These are vessels that do not appear to be Russian-owned. They are often registered to shell companies based in some third country and used by operators working on behalf of the Kremlin. They change flags, names, and owners. They sail without insurance and regularly hide their position by turning off their transponders, making them invisible to radars. It is the phenomenon with which the EU has to contend; with international law providing a safe haven for Russian anti-sanction activities.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea guarantees ships the right of innocent passage, that is, the right to freely navigate through territorial seas. You cannot anchor, but you can transit. This means that “preventing shadow fleet vessels from entering territorial waters or exclusive economic zone faces significant challenges,” McGuinness added. Also, there is nothing the EU executive can do, since “the implementation and enforcement of EU sanctions are the responsibility of member states.” 

The problem of shadow ships is in addition to the illegal practices in international waters, where Russian oil is transferred from one tanker to another to circumvent sanctions, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first gimmicks to flout EU restrictions. The EU continues to lend a hand to member states, “including with the assistance of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), in monitoring any suspicious ships,” McGuinness assures. But European meshes are far from tight, and the Kremlin continues to cash in on its crude oil.