The European Union is introducing sanctions against oil traders and entities facilitating the activities of Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
A European official announced this to journalists at a briefing in Brussels on Thursday while detailing the content of the 21st sanctions package.
Oil remains a key source of Russian revenue, but the way Russia generates this income is changing, the official noted, explaining that Moscow is adapting its export networks following previous sanctions from the EU and partners against several oil companies. One consequence is the emergence of new companies that now occupy a central place in the export network and are not necessarily all based in Russia. These oil traders have been added to the sanctions list, alongside several other entities facilitating the operations of the Russian shadow fleet.
According to the official, with each sanctions package, the EU attempts to identify new categories of intermediaries for shadow fleet operations, noting that this package also features a crew management agency listed for the first time.
In addition, further sanctions have been introduced against several oil refineries in Russia. The official explained that this measure is particularly important right now because Russia will naturally seek to repair and modernize a significant portion of its refinery infrastructure that was recently damaged, and the asset freezes and transaction bans being introduced are intended to disrupt those efforts.
Furthermore, against the backdrop of oil deficits in Russia and its importation of refined products from third-country refineries, the sanctions package includes an oil refinery engaged in such reverse imports in Belarus.
