Loophole: Putin's oil keeps flowing to Britain - for nearly £800m since March
Created: 11/27/2022 13:04
By: Linus Prien
Oil tanker off the coast of Spain (icon image).
© Christoph Hardt/ IMAGO
Despite continued support for Ukraine, Great Britain cannot avoid its dependence on Russia for raw materials.
Enormous amounts of oil continue to flow into London.
LONDON - Great Britain has presented itself as a close ally of Ukraine since the start of the escalated Ukraine conflict.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly visited Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself underlined the special relationship between the two heads of state.
In blatant contradiction to Britain's loyalty to Ukraine, however, stands a report that appeared in Britain's
Sunday Times
.
Not only does London supply arms to Ukraine, it also supports sanctions against Russia, which are also being implemented by the European Union, among others.
According to the report, however, London continues to import oil from Russia, even through a loophole.
Loophole for Russian oil: Britain to continue importing Russian oil
For countries like Germany, Italy and Great Britain, Russia was able to create a great deal of dependence on itself by trading its rich mineral resources.
However, this was to end in the wake of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
Most European countries are looking for alternative trading partners, which led the German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) to Qatar, among other places.
However, according to the Sunday Times
, London has
imported about £800m worth of oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.
However, £200 million worth of oil has not been classified as being imported from Russia, according to the British side's report.
Germany also continues to import oil from Russia.
Loophole for Russian oil: Goods are handed over outside of Russia
Oil shipments arriving at UK ports are said to come from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
However, as the Sunday Times
clarifies
, this deception is not a breach of maritime law .
Great Britain only uses a loophole, which is nothing new in international trade.
It is completely harmless to declare Russian oil as an import from Germany, for example.
This is because it is not the country of origin of the imported goods that is relevant, but the place from which the oil tanker departs.
According to media reports, the procedure in this case is that a ship leaves Russia, but delivers its goods to a larger transporter at another location on the sea.
From there, the larger transporter then travels to Great Britain.
Russia is therefore not recognized as the country of origin.
Loophole for Russian oil: ex-Tory boss calls for end of business
As of now, London can still import oil from Russia, but at the expense of its good relationship with Ukraine.
From the beginning of December 2022, however, they will no longer be allowed to purchase oil from the Kremlin state.
Politicians in the UK have already called for action: "It is time to close this apparent loophole.
The government should act and end these practices once and for all," said former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith.
(LP)
