LONDON: There is “growing evidence” that Russia is using “shadow tanker fleets” to circumvent a Western oil price cap, a watchdog committee of British lawmakers warned on Wednesday.
Arguing Britain and its allies must maintain sanctions and military support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” the panel from parliament’s unelected upper House of Lords urged them to take “decisive action” over the issue.
It comes just over a year after the G7, European Union and Australia imposed the unprecedented price cap on Russian oil, hoping to starve President Vladimir Putin of much-needed revenue while ensuring he still supplied the global market.
Initially successful, the $60 per barrel price ceiling on Russian oil lost its impact once Moscow found new buyers and new tankers to deliver its exports.
Recent assessments show Moscow has reduced its dependence on Western shipping services and skirted the curb by building so-called shadow fleets of tankers and buying old ships while offering its own insurance services.
“We are concerned at the growing evidence that Russia has been able to circumvent sanctions, including through third states and uninsured shadow tanker fleets,” the Lords’ European Affairs Committee said in a new report.
“This is an issue where decisive action by the UK and its allies is needed,” it added, urging the government to detail “specific examples” of enforcement action.
Companies based in the EU, G7 member states and Australia are banned from providing services enabling maritime transport, such as insurance, of oil above that price.
But the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) is the latest to highlight the extent to which Russia is now able to get around the mechanism.
In its December “Russian oil tracker” report released earlier this month, it estimated “179 loaded Russian shadow fleet tankers left Russian ports in November 2023.”
Around 70 percent of the vessels were built more than 15 years ago, it said.
In October 2023, the shadow fleet was responsible for exports of around 2.3 million barrels per day of crude oil and 800,000 million barrels per day of petroleum products, according to the KSE.
The Lords’ committee welcomed the Western sanctions regime imposed on Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, in particular that it had been “broadly aligned,” but warned against “divergence.”
“Divergence between sanctions regimes results in gaps and loopholes, weakening their effectiveness; it should be as limited as possible.”
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UK lawmakers warn Russia skirting oil sanctions with ‘shadow’ tankers
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UK lawmakers warn Russia skirting oil sanctions with ‘shadow’ tankers
- Companies based in the EU, G7 member states and Australia are banned from providing services enabling maritime transport, such as insurance, of oil above that price
South Africa to expel Kenyans working on US Afrikaner ‘refugee’ applications
JOHANNESBURG: South African authorities have arrested and will expel seven Kenyans accused of working without the correct documentation on a US government program to accept white Afrikaners as “refugees,” the home affairs department said Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in May offered refugee status to the minority white Afrikaner community, claiming they were victims of discrimination and even “genocide,” which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
The US government reportedly engaged Kenyans from a Christian NGO based in Kenya to come to South Africa to fast-track the processing of applications for resettlement under the program.
During a raid on an application processing center in Johannesburg on Tuesday, “seven Kenyan nationals were discovered engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country,” the South African home affairs department said.
“They were arrested and issued with deportation orders, and will be prohibited from entering South Africa again for a five-year period,” it said in a statement.
The raid came after “intelligence reports indicated that a number of Kenyan nationals had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work at a center processing the applications of so-called ‘refugees’ to the United States,” it said.
Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals after taking office in January but made an exception for the Afrikaners despite Pretoria’s insistence that they do not face persecution.
A first group of around 50 Afrikaners — descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa — were flown to the United States on a chartered plane in May. Others have reportedly followed in smaller numbers and on commercial flights.
The South African home affairs department said no US officials were arrested in the raid, which was not conducted at a diplomatic site.
No prospective “refugees” were harassed, it said, adding that the government had contacted US and Kenyan officials over the issue.
- ‘Unacceptable’ -
Ties between Washington and Pretoria have plummeted since Trump took office in January, with his administration lashing out at South Africa over a range of policies, expelling its ambassador in March and imposing 30-percent trade tariffs.
After reports emerged of a raid, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement to US media that “interfering” in US refugee operations was “unacceptable.”
Washington officials were “seeking immediate clarification from the South African government and expect full cooperation and accountability,” he said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in May offered refugee status to the minority white Afrikaner community, claiming they were victims of discrimination and even “genocide,” which the Pretoria government strongly denies.
The US government reportedly engaged Kenyans from a Christian NGO based in Kenya to come to South Africa to fast-track the processing of applications for resettlement under the program.
During a raid on an application processing center in Johannesburg on Tuesday, “seven Kenyan nationals were discovered engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country,” the South African home affairs department said.
“They were arrested and issued with deportation orders, and will be prohibited from entering South Africa again for a five-year period,” it said in a statement.
The raid came after “intelligence reports indicated that a number of Kenyan nationals had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work at a center processing the applications of so-called ‘refugees’ to the United States,” it said.
Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals after taking office in January but made an exception for the Afrikaners despite Pretoria’s insistence that they do not face persecution.
A first group of around 50 Afrikaners — descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa — were flown to the United States on a chartered plane in May. Others have reportedly followed in smaller numbers and on commercial flights.
The South African home affairs department said no US officials were arrested in the raid, which was not conducted at a diplomatic site.
No prospective “refugees” were harassed, it said, adding that the government had contacted US and Kenyan officials over the issue.
- ‘Unacceptable’ -
Ties between Washington and Pretoria have plummeted since Trump took office in January, with his administration lashing out at South Africa over a range of policies, expelling its ambassador in March and imposing 30-percent trade tariffs.
After reports emerged of a raid, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement to US media that “interfering” in US refugee operations was “unacceptable.”
Washington officials were “seeking immediate clarification from the South African government and expect full cooperation and accountability,” he said.
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