Bipartisan leadership of the Helsinki Commission urged Wednesday the imposition of broad sanctions against Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a group of Russia’s ships that circumvent international sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas exports.
In a letter sent on January 15, the leaders of the commission called on the Trump administration to keep pace with recent actions taken by the European Union, sanctioning an extra 100 Russian-connected ships and the groups that back them. The letter is addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“The shadow fleet is a life support system for Putin,” it continues. “Without it, Putin’s ability to support his war effort would be put into question.”
This bipartisan group of representatives included Senate Chairman Roger Wicker, Senate Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse, House Co-Chairman Joe Wilson, and House Ranking Member Steve Cohen. They said that Russia’s “shadow fleet” was “essential to its current invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.”
The Russian government has used different deceptive methods to ensure that their oil products continue reaching the global market despite the sanctions imposed by the Western countries. These include changing the names of the vessels, changing the flags under which the vessels sail, and making their location hard to track.
The lawmakers pointed out that the shadow fleet ships pose a number of other risks. “These ships are often old, rundown, underinsured, and manned with unqualified crews,” the lawmakers said. Such ships can pose a risk to vital sea cables and can cause environmental disasters.
In the letter, it is also mentioned that there were some ships that carried sanctioned oil coming from Iran and Venezuela that were part of the shadow fleet of Russia.
The leaders of the commission commended sanctions imposed on oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil in Russia while urging a more drastic approach. They felt that sanctioning “tanker operators, financiers, flag registries, foreign countries, and opaque shell companies” that facilitate a shadow fleet would help to fill loopholes in sanctions.
“Putin must know that we will punish him for his relentless assault on Ukraine and for attacking civilians and civilian targets,” the letter concluded.
While the Biden administration has sanctions against some ships in the shadow fleet, the expansion by the EU has widened the net.
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