EU Sanctions 24 Shipping Companies Including Gazprom and Lukoil
The European Council listed a new round of companies, including those from the shipping sector, energy revenues, and the military-industrial complex, that it said are supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. It also extended the sanctions to include individuals it said are involved in propaganda supporting the war and human rights violations, while it said that work also continues on the broader 21st sanctions package.
Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and chair of the Foreign Affairs Council, said the latest actions continue to strike at Russia’s military-industrial complex, the shadow fleet, and the networks that support Russia’s hybrid attacks against Europe. She asserted that the previous efforts have already cost Russia an estimated €1 to 1.3 trillion in revenues.
In the shipping sector, the listing adds two more individuals, Tahir Garayev, who founded Coral Energy (later 2Rivers Group), and another who is a maritime insurance broker. The EU Council asserted that Coral Energy/2Rivers controls a large portion of the shadow fleet through a series of networks, while the insurance coverage facilitates the operations of the vessels and energy exports.
The listing also includes a total of 24 entities and their ships, which have been used to export crude oil or petroleum products from Russia. The listings cover a dozen companies in Russia, as well as five in the UAE, three in Turkey, two in Hong Kong, and one each in Azerbaijan and Liberia. All the companies and their ships were charged with lacking adequate liability insurance, while also having been involved with ship-to-ship transfers and manipulation of AIS transmissions while transporting Russian energy products.
Among the most prominent companies included in today’s efforts was Gazprom, as the technical manager of two vessels. It also includes Lukoil-Western Siberia as the commercial operator of three other vessels. Previous efforts have listed other operations by the same companies.
Other elements of the listing included seven individuals and 21 entities that the EU said are supporting the Russian military and industrial operations. It included Russian manufacturers and suppliers of drones and other equipment, and one company in China, which it said is one of the largest lubricant additive manufacturers.
Related to the poisoning and ultimate death of dissident leader Alexei Navalny, the package lists 15 individuals, including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, state security, and medical personnel, for their involvement in the case. A company that manufactures facial recognition systems that the EU says are used to monitor and detain independent journalists and others was also listed.
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One of the more unusual elements was the listing of 10 individuals, which the EU labeled as propagandists. Among them is a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church, who is labeled an activist in spreading propaganda. Georgiy Shevkunov is closely linked to Vladimir Putin as a friend and confidante and was also named Metropolitan of Crimea, the annexed portion of Ukraine.
The EU asserts that the sanctions continue to punish Russia and impact its ability to sustain the war. Kallas said, “brick by brick,” the EU is collapsing the foundations of Russia’s war economy.