The Monitoring Group at the Black Sea Institute for Strategic Studies recorded 30 cases of violation of the European Union's embargo on the seaborne import of petroleum products from Russia (excluding crude oil) through the Black Sea in September 2023.
The Monitoring Group’s head Andrii Klymenko announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
According to the statement, six direct shipments from Russian ports to ports in the European Union and the United States were registered.
"The remaining 24 voyages involved the delivery of petroleum products to roadsteads for transshipment: 21 in the Laconian Gulf off the coast of Greece; 3 off the coast of Malta," Klymenko said.
In September 2023, a total of 197,858 tons of petroleum products were delivered directly to ports in the European Union and the United States, and 897,117 tons were delivered to roadsteads for transshipment.
"In total, 1,094,975 tons of petroleum products were delivered to the European Union and the United States in violation of the embargo. This is the largest volume since the imposition of the embargo on 5 February 2023," he said.
According to Klymenko, the tankers went to the ports of Lavrio (Greece), Piraeus (Greece), Motril (Spain), Ghent (Belgium), Rijeka (Croatia), and Baltimore (United States). The tanker bound for Baltimore is scheduled to arrive at 10:00 on 14 October 2023. Tankers owned by companies based in Greece, Italy, Japan, the United States, and Turkey made these six direct voyages to ports in the European Union and the United States.
"Tankers belonging to companies registered in Greece (3), the UAE (3 Russian companies re-registered in the UAE), Turkey (4), India (5), and China (1), as well as companies registered in offshore jurisdictions (8, including 2 registered in the Seychelles, 5 in the Marshall Islands, 1 in the Cook Islands) made 24 voyages to roadsteads for oil transshipment," Klymenko said.
Klymenko emphasized that in the seventh month after the embargo was imposed, the situation involving compliance with it deteriorated significantly. "1 million tons of oil products is too much. This again confirms that there is no monitoring system in place in the countries that imposed the embargo," he concluded.
As the CFTS portal reported earlier, Klymenko said in June that some tankers carrying Russian crude oil were entering ports in the European Union directly, bypassing all the restrictions imposed by the European Union. In addition, vessels owned by companies registered in the European Union, especially in Greece, continue to be actively involved in the transportation of Russian crude oil from the Black Sea.
"As for the 'shadow fleet,' ignore the words. This only means that respectable, powerful countries with enormous capabilities (excluding the United States) have not created bodies to monitor compliance with their own sanctions decisions ... (and not only sanctions related to crude oil)," the expert said at the time.
