European and US shipowners have sold at least 230 aging tankers to the “shadow fleet” used by Russia to avoid West sanctions on its oil exports to continue funding the war against Ukraine, according to international survey. The Guardian cites.

The shipowners, according to the survey, have reached More than $ 6 billion Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 by selling their ships to buyers of countries such as India, Hong Kong, Vietnam or Seiheles, who do not participate in financial sanctions against Moscow.

The research even reveals that Greek shipowners are the ones who have been ‘unloaded’ the largest number Tanker, selling a total of 127 ships. Also, British companies have sold 22 tankers, while German and Norwegian shipowners have given 11 and eight ships respectively.

Most of these tankers would otherwise have been sold for scrap for minimal price.

In total, shipowners from 21 of 35 countries that have imposed sanctions on Russian oil have sold tankers on the “shadow” fleet, as revealed by a Nine Country’s New Country research, led by the Dutch Research Organization. Follow the money (Ftm).

West governments argue that “shadow” fleet ships are used to carry Russian oil, carry out spy operations on behalf of Moscow and to map – and sometimes to destroy – vital underwater infrastructures, such as cables.

The International Media Group, in collaboration with the Independent School of Economics in Kiev (KSE) -whose researchers believe that the shadow fleet of over 600 ships It distributes about 70% of Russia’s exported oil– analyzed hundreds of freight and ship registration records in the context of the investigation.

The research makes a special reference to two Greek tankers, aged 15 years, sold to a company based in Hanoi, which were subsequently renamed and changed a flag, from Malta to Panama, and later loaded 120 million liters of Russian oil from Russian port of the Baltic Ust-Luga, near the border of Estonia.

As the Guardian notes, after the team of seven (G7) and the EU imposed a maximum of the price sale of Russian oil at the end of 2022, banning their jurisdiction from facilitating Russian oil sales more than a specific price, prices Sale for ships that could be registered in non -western jurisdictions were raised.

“Many European shipowners had old ships that believed they were no longer worthy. And suddenly their value doubled – So they rushed to sell them, ”explains the Lloyd’s List’s Maritime Analyst team.

The Belgian shipping group CMB.Tech sold a total of five tankers for $ 135 million, which ended up in the “shadow” fleet in 2022 and early 2023. The group’s spokesman, however, told the Belgian newspaper De Tijd. , that the Group was not responsible for these ships after the sale.

Meanwhile, at the end of 2023, the EU has introduced new rules that require companies selling ships in third countries to check that they have not been used to bypass sanctions – but 32 European tankers have since been sold in the shadow fleet.

However, there are no reports that it is planned to impose specific measures prohibiting the sale of ships on the shadow fleet, partly due to resistance from Member States with significant maritime sectors, such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta.