Recital 4

(4) Russian seaborne oil exports revenue accounts for a significant part of Russia’s budget and therefore fuels its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. For the purposes of those oil exports, Russia is increasingly reliant on a fleet of vessels involved in substandard and high-risk shipping practices such as operating with inadequate or inexistent insurance (‘shadow fleet’). Those vessels pose significant maritime safety and environmental risks for the Union, its coastal Member States and third-country coastal states. Those risks have in particular been flagged by the International Maritime Organisation in its General Assembly resolution A.1192(33), adopted on 6 December 2023, which called on its Member States and other relevant stakeholders to develop capabilities and due diligence practices for the prevention, detection and reporting of the operation of shadow fleets and illegal activities facilitated by such vessels. Discouraging persons and entities from undertaking and facilitating high-risk shipping practices when transporting Russian-origin oil and disrupting shadow fleet operations therefore contribute to undermining revenue generation for the Russian war efforts while at the same time supporting international measures to preserve and improve the quality of the environment. Such efforts to address shadow fleet activities should be implemented in a targeted manner, taking into account the level of responsibility of the relevant operators in decision-making and operations. Furthermore, piloting services necessary for reasons of maritime safety should not be impeded.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-15 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.