UK slaps fresh sanctions on ‘shadow fleet’ tankers and shipmanagers

THE UK announced fresh sanctions on Tuesday aimed at Russia’s financial, military and energy sectors, including 20 “shadow fleet” tankers and two shipmanagers.

The action also targeted “the military agency leading the development of Russia’s underwater intelligence gathering operations (GUGI)”, the UK government said in a statement. A total of 30 individuals, ships and entities were sanctioned.

According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data, the 20 tankers blacklisted on Tuesday have a combined carrying capacity of more than 1.4m dwt. Three of them — Panama-flagged Ocean Autumn (IMO: 9379052) and Thorin (IMO: 9330472), and Barbados-flagged Yodan (IMO: 9304356) — were previously sanctioned by the EU.

The UK said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “repeated refusals to engage seriously in peace has redoubled the UK’s resolve to apply a stranglehold on the Russian economy”.

The announcement came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was attending the G7 summit in Canada, and amid a push by the EU to lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil that is facing political headwinds.

The UK government said it “plans to move with partners to tighten the oil price cap to hurt Russia’s oil revenues, while ensuring stability of the energy market”.