Russian tankers carrying Russian oil are still making direct voyages to ports of European Union countries.
This was reported by Andrii Klymenko, head of the Monitoring Group at the Institute for Black Sea Strategic Studies.
“In the fourth year of the Great War in Europe, we still have direct voyages of tankers with Russian crude oil to EU ports, in violation of the embargo of December 5, 2022,” he wrote.
According to Klymenko, this could indicate a lack of oversight, document forgery, or other factors.
In April 2025, the Monitoring Group recorded 10 direct voyages of crude oil tankers from Russian ports in the Baltic, Black, and Kara Seas to EU ports.
These vessels delivered 1.2 million tons of Russian oil to EU ports. Notably, two tankers made direct voyages from Russian ports in the Baltic Sea to ports in the Netherlands and Italy:
VILAMOURA (IMO 9529293) under the flag of the Marshall Islands, with a deadweight of 158,621 tons, built in 2011. The vessel departed from the port of Ust-Luga (Russia) on April 8 and arrived at the port of Rotterdam (Netherlands) on April 17. The registered owner of the vessel is XIANG H44 INTERNATIONAL SHIP C/O: TMS Tankers Ltd.
DALI (IMO 9787936) under the flag of the Cayman Islands, with a deadweight of 115,281 tons, built in 2018. The tanker departed from the port of Ust-Luga on April 28 and arrived in Milazzo (Italy) on May 13. The registered owner of the vessel is CHARLOTTE OWNERS INC C/O: TMS Tankers Ltd.
