As of March 24, 2025, the number of identified vessels as part of Russia’s shadow fleet is estimated at 848, including 463 crude oil and 385 oil product carriers. The true scale of Russia’s shadow fleet is likely to be even larger as Russia expands its oil export network and secures new tankers with ongoing efforts to evade sanctions and regulatory measures.
Only 25 crude oil tankers have been sanctioned by all four key jurisdictions — the EU, UK, Canada and USA. Additionally, six crude oil tankers and four oil product tankers have been designated by three sanction coalition members (EU, UK, and US). This brings the total number of tankers jointly sanctioned by the EU, UK, and US to 35.
Razom We Stand, together with partners including B4Ukraine Coalition, CREA, KSE Institute and UK Friends of Ukraine, has identified four steps that can and should be taken to address the shadow fleet threat, solve the associated problems and ensure efficiency, enforceability, and universal reach of sanctions:
- Aligning lists of targeted vessels across the EU, UK, Canada and the US for stronger, more enforceable sanctions to increase their efficiency & global reach.
- Increasing resources for enforcement teams to ensure stronger sanctions implementation.
- Expanding designations to regular processes beyond set packages to quickly scale sanctions.
- Updating legal frameworks to ensure accountability of third-country entities.
Download Briefing Note “Addressing the Russian shadow fleet threat with a joint EU and allies approach for enhanced targeted sanctions” for more details.
