US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, listens as UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, right, speaks during the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The U.K. government, on Wednesday, announced sanctions on a “shadow fleet” of ten Russian oil tankers that it has alleged were circumventing Western oil sanctions.

The announcement coincided with a trip to Kyiv by U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a trip to the U.K. and continental Europe. The announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday’s sanctions announcement from the U.K, France and Germany, who announced curbs on Iran for supplying missiles to Russia.

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The European Union (EU) and Group of Seven (G-7) countries, including the U.K., are among those who have participated in U.S.-led sanctions on Russian oil, with petroleum being a critical source of funding for Russia’s war with Ukraine. The G-7 instituted a price cap of $60 per barrel of Russian oil in December 2022.

Wednesday’s sanctions bring the total number of ships on the U.K.’s proscribed list to 25. The tankers will not be allowed to dock at U.K. ports.

“Putin’s war machine is funded by a dark and illicit economic system that this government is committed to destabilising,” Mr. Lammy said.

Three of the vessels on the new sanctions list, Nikolay Zuyev, NS Asia and Zaliv Aniva, have, between them, transported more than $5 billion of Russian oil since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.K. government said.

“Russia has been forced to spend over $8 billion amassing this shadow fleet. But with sanctioned tankers loitering and unable to load oil, we are determined to make Putin’s investment an expensive misstep for the Kremlin,” Mr. Lammy added.

India is one of the top purchasers of oil from Russia, a move New Delhi has defended on grounds of national interest and market dynamics. The issue was discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Mr. Modi’s visit to Kyiv in August, when the Ukrainian President had urged India to stop purchases from Moscow.