EU slaps new sanctions on Russia targeting 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers

The Kremlin is using old-age, poorly kept tankers to sell its crude oil above the price cap established by Western allies.

Transcript

00:00The European Union issued new sanctions against Russia, particularly targeting the tankers

00:07Russia uses to circumvent Western restrictions on oil trade.

00:13Oil is a major source of income that is crucial to fund Russia's war in Ukraine. In 2022,

00:19the European Union introduced an oil price cap which prohibited Western companies from

00:24providing services to Russian tankers that went beyond this limit.

00:30As a way around this, Moscow began using the Shadow Fleet, which are old, uninsured tankers.

00:36The poorly kept tankers have obscure ownership and insurance structures that escape the controls

00:41of G7 partners.

00:45Brussels is worried the poor condition of the ships could spill oil and cause an environmental

00:49catastrophe. The Shadow Fleet has also been accused of deceptive practices, including

00:55transmitting falsified data, turning off their transporters to become invisible to satellite

01:00systems, and conducting multiple ship-to-ship transfers to conceal the origin of the oil

01:06barrels.