South Korean oil ends up in Russia via sanctioned tankers, a Guardian analysis reveals

More than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, were loaded in July and August at several South Korean ports onto seven tankers that made a total of 14 voyages to the Russian Far East, namely Vladivostok. This is shown by an analysis by The Guardian, published on October 6, based on port data and ship tracking.

Three of the ships were placed under British and European Union sanctions. One of them took its cargo through a ship-to-ship transfer in South Korea’s territorial waters — a method used to hide the origin of the cargo. Analyst Isaac Levi, from the Finnish think tank CREA, told the Guardian: “It is shocking that EU-sanctioned tankers loaded fuel in South Korean ports and took it to Russia… This undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea’s support for Ukraine.”

Details from the analysis show that the sanctioned tanker “Layla” made two Ulsan–Vladivostok voyages, on July 19 and August 10, carrying a total of around 57,000 tonnes of diesel; on the second voyage it declared “Niigata” in Japan as its destination. The Russian-flagged tanker “Astoria”, also under sanctions, loaded around 11,000 tonnes at Ulsan on August 1 declaring Japan, but sailed to Vladivostok. Meanwhile “Chongchon” took around 26,000 tonnes from the unsanctioned tanker “Celeste I” near Yeosu in early August, declared Singapore and set off for Vladivostok.

The development comes at a time when Russia’s oil refining capacity has been hit hard by Ukrainian drone strikes: according to the International Energy Agency, Russian diesel production has fallen by almost 30 percent. Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) says Moscow is now forced to import fuel for “the Russian war machine”. In August alone, Russia imported 368,000 tonnes of oil products by sea — seven times more than the previous month and a record since the start of the invasion — of which 31 percent came from South Korea.

According to the analysis, the trade does not appear to violate South Korean law, as Seoul’s measures mainly include export controls for machinery, electronics and vehicles. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about the shipments, just as the British Foreign Office did not respond to questions about the British-sanctioned tankers. Seoul has sent Ukraine humanitarian aid and non-lethal supplies and in 2023 promised $2.3 billion, mainly in the form of loans, but continues to exclude sending weapons.