Russia is exporting its petroleum products to Europe by sea although its vessels are banned from entering seaports in EU countries.
The Scheme investigative journalism project reports this, the CFTS portal reports, citing the NV.Business publication.
According to reporters, the Russian Federation uses two schemes to circumvent the ban. Under the first scheme, loaded Russian tankers leaving Russian ports stop off the coast of Romania in the Black Sea, where their cargoes are transferred onto foreign ships. These foreign ships then deliver the petroleum products to ports in other countries, including European countries.
The second scheme involves the Liberian-flagged tanker New Legend, which has been anchored near Constanta (Romania) for five months. Russian tankers have been regularly loading this tanker since June. The New Legend tanker then transfers the crude oil and petroleum products to another vessel, which then enters a European port or "continues the relay" by transferring the cargo to a fourth vessel, which then enters a port in an EU country.
The Scheme investigative journalism project uncovered that the Russian tankers involved in these schemes belong to the Volga Shipping company.
As reported a month ago, Russia is likely using Egypt as an intermediate point in its crude-oil export network to circumvent Western sanctions.
