Under False Flag: Russian Oil Is Getting to Europe Bypassing Sanctions

The oil tankers owned by Sovkomflot Russian state company continue to deliver oil to the European ports bypassing the western sanctions. In particular, the Russian ships are mooring at the ports under the Liberian flags, as Meduza reports with the reference to OCCRP’s investigation data.

The investigators have discovered that the Russian company has managed to bypass the sanctions by transferring the tankers into ownership of its subsidiaries incorporated under the laws of Cyprus and United Arab Emirates.

Professor Ricardo Soares, a specialist in international politics and financing, notes that under the given conditions it's almost impossible to track the ownership back to Russia, especially as Sovcomflot is switching ship names and apparently turning off GPS tracking in certain countries. Sailing ships under Liberia’s flag is a straightforward way to disguise the tankers’ origin, he emphasizes.

OCCRP has identified more than 18 Sovcomflot tankers, which have been crossing the world’s oceans in the past month. Each is carrying on average over $240 million worth of fuel.

OCCRP has also tracked at least five others recently coming from, en route to or in docks in Italy, Denmark, and the Netherlands, even after EU sanctions came into full effect.

Currently, it is not clear who is buying the oil delivered by Sovcomflot.

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