Brussels targets Russia's LNG ghost fleet in new sanctions

BRUSSELS

The European Union yesterday slapped new sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers moving liquefied natural gas through Europe as well as several companies.

In a statement issued at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the bloc said that it will “forbid reloading services of Russian LNG in EU territory for the purpose of transshipment operations to third countries.”

The EU estimates that about 4-to-6 billion cubic meters of Russian LNG was shipped to third countries via EU ports last year. Russia is suspected of running a “ghost fleet” to evade sanctions and keep up the flow of energy earnings so that it can finance the war.

The measures will target ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore transfers as well as reloading operations. It also involves a crackdown on the re-export of LNG to third countries via the EU, plus a ban on new investments to help Russia complete LNG projects it is working on.

A total of 61 new “entities” – often companies, banks, agencies and other organizations – were added to the EU’s list, including a number of them in China and the United Arab Emirates.

Around 50 more officials are also being targeted with asset freezes, as well as travel bans. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as scores of lawmakers and several oligarchs are among more than 1,700 people already listed by the EU.

The more than 400 entities previously hit include companies working in the military, aviation, shipbuilding and machine sectors, the Wagner mercenary group, political parties and banks. Around 210 billion euros ($225 billion) worth of Russian Central Bank assets are blocked in the EU.