The United States on Friday sanctioned 14 tankers from a
“ghost fleet”
used by Moscow to circumvent the cap imposed by Western countries on the price of Russian oil, on the eve of the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions announced in a US Treasury statement target Russian national shipping company Sovcomflot, giving it 45 days to unload oil or other cargo from the 14 vessels.
This
“ghost fleet”
allowed Russia to reduce the impact on its revenues of the oil price capping mechanism, put in place by a coalition of Western countries.
“The Kremlin's attempt to escape the price cap by investing in a ghost fleet... allowed it to obtain a smaller discount, overall higher prices on its oil last summer and fall »
A Treasury Department official told reporters.
Also read: What is a “ghost fleet”, the Russian weapon to circumvent sanctions?
“We are taking the next step”
The countries of a coalition bringing together the G7, the European Union (EU) and Australia have put in place, since December 2022, a system of capping the prices of Russian oil.
Insurers and reinsurers are prohibited from covering the maritime transport of Russian oil to the countries of this coalition, unless it is sold at a price lower than that of the ceiling.
This had the effect of reducing by a third the revenue that Russia earned in 2023 from the export of oil and petroleum products, compared to 2022, according to the coalition countries.
Targeting this shadow fleet
“forces Russia to choose between using coalition services to ship its oil below the price ceiling”
or doing so
“via the shadow fleet and face increasing costs and tougher enforcement of sanctions from from Western authorities
,” detailed the Treasury official.
“The cap on Russian oil prices continues to serve its dual objective: limiting the Kremlin's profits while promoting the stability of energy markets
,” said Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, quoted in the press release.
“Today we are taking the next step by targeting Russia's largest state-owned shipping company and fleet operator, dealing a major blow to their parallel operations
,” he added.
A Treasury official specified that
“the G7 countries represent 90% of the global services market”
.
These additional sanctions are in addition to those announced earlier today by the Biden administration, which concerned more than 500 people and organizations, the largest round of sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.