New round of sanctions against Russia. The member countries of the European Union agreed this Wednesday, December 11 to sanction around 50 additional vessels of the “ghost fleet” Russian. The latter allows Moscow to continue to export its oil by circumventing Western restrictions.
“EU and G7 partners are determined to maintain pressure on the Kremlin”underlined Wednesday the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the social network X.
A measure officially announced as part of the fifteenth EU sanctions package targeting Russian interests since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Diplomats explained that the new sanctions package would result in the addition of around 50 ships additional to the EU blacklist, bringing their total number to around 75. These new sanctions will also be ratified on Monday by the Twenty-Seven.
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Aging ships
The announcement also comes after similar measures taken by the United Kingdom and the United States. British sanctions now target 73 ships in total, indicates the Foreign Office, stressing that the United States has sanctioned 39.
Oil exports are “Putin’s main source of income to finance his illegal war in Ukraine », representing around a quarter of the Russian budget in 2023, according to the British Foreign Office.
Ukraine’s international backers have sought to limit the funds fueling the Kremlin’s war machine by imposing price caps and restrictions on Russia’s oil exports. In order to circumvent these measures, Russia uses a “ghost fleet”made up of ships that are often aging and operated under foreign flags by dubious owners, without adequate insurance. Made up of around 600 ships, this fleet transports nearly 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, London estimated in July. The real ownership of ships is often even difficult to determine, due to the combination of companies with unclear origins and intermediaries.
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Sanctions against Chinese companies
The EU will also impose restrictions on more Chinese companies collaborating with the Russian military. The bloc has already banned European companies from doing business with certain groups accused of supplying Moscow with essential components.
But diplomats added that the latest sanctions were not as extensive as the previous ones, due to the reluctance of Hungary, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the bloc. Some hope that a more ambitious package will be proposed under the Polish presidency which begins in January. But officials admit it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new, important targets to sanction.
(With AFP)
