Britain’s FBI has issued a ‘Red Alert’ warning that Russia is using a shadow fleet of vessels to evade sanctions on the sale of its oil.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) warned UK financial firms yesterday that Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures in order to evade sanctions.
Britain has banned the maritime transportation of Russian oil as its energy exports are funding the war in Ukraine.
In 2024, 30 per cent of Russia’s federal budget came from oil and gas sales.
But Russian oil trading companies are managing to circumvent sanctions to get Western cash which is continuing to fund the Russian state, investigators believe.
One of the companies sanctioned last year used over 100 Shadow Fleet oil tankers, vessels which are usually over 15 years old which secretly carry Russian oil.
To avoid detection, flags are regularly changed and the ship’s automatic identification system is turned off to avoid its movements being tracked, while the oil is often transferred from one ship to another to obscure its origin before the shipment reaches its destination.
Over 400 Shadow Fleet vessels have so far been sanctioned by the UK, EU, US and Canada.
Shadow fleet tanker seen off the coast of Denmark last year
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Yesterday a NCA spokesman said: ‘Today, the National Crime Agency has issued an alert to financial institutions and other members of the UK regulated sector in relation to the sale of Russian oil and gas through the use of Shadow Fleet vessels and front companies.
‘Sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine have had a significant impact on its ability to sell oil and gas it produces.
‘However, in an effort to circumvent these controls, Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures to evade sanctions whilst accessing Western finance and professional services in order to continue to fund the Russian state.’
