And the vessels themselves are registered at subsidiaries in Cyprus and the UAE
Russian tankers” Sovcomflot “ under the flag of Liberia freely deliver oil to European ports bypassing Western sanctions. This was reported by the international investigation platform OCCRP, Medusa writes.
According to investigators, the Russian company was able to circumvent the restrictions by registering them as the property of its subsidiaries in Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates. .
This makes it difficult to track court ownership rights. In addition, the company changes the names of ships, and the tankers themselves disable trackers.
Read also: Russian oil continues to arrive in the United States, despite sanctions – The Wall Street Journal
OCCRP has identified more than 18 Sovcomflot tankers that continue to fly to Europe. Each tanker carries an average of $ 240 million in oil. The organization tracked at least five of them when ships were either returning, sailing or in the ports of Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, after EU sanctions against the company took effect. It is unclear who bought Russian oil delivered by Radcomflot tankers.
The European Union imposed sanctions on Radcomflot in mid-March. A month later, the shipping company said that due to the restrictions, it will not be able to pay on Eurobonds, and later Sovcomflot announced the sale of part of its fleet. By the summer, the Russian shipping company had relocated most of its business to Dubai. Before the war, the company's own and chartered fleet numbered 134.
In early June, the European Union adopted a sixth package of sanctions, including a ban on imports of oil from Russia by sea, but the Libery flag helps to circumvent them.
The Liberia Flag Registry is the second largest, oldest and most respected maritime register in the world, with 4,200 state-of-the-art ships registered, with a total tonnage of 150 million gross registered tons. 12% of the world's merchant fleet goes under the Liberian flag.
