The British newspaper The Guardian, which examined port records and vessel tracking data, reported that more than 176,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, were sent from South Korean ports to Russia’s Far East in the summer.
In July and August, seven tankers made 14 voyages to Russia, and three of them were under sanctions from the UK and the EU. The largest carrier was the sanctioned tanker Layla: on two voyages it delivered 57,000 tons of diesel from South Korea’s Ulsan to Vladivostok.
On the second trip, the vessel told Korean authorities that it was heading to the Japanese port of Niigata. The tanker Chongchon, which declared a course for Singapore, did not enter a port at all and took on about 26,000 tons of fuel from another vessel off the coast of the South Korean port of Yeosu; who owned this cargo is unknown.
According to Kpler, among the buyers were the sanctioned Rosneft and NNK, owned by Eduard Khudainatov, who is under British sanctions. In August, Russia imported 368,000 tons of petroleum products by sea — a record since the start of the full-scale invasion, with South Korea accounting for 31% of this volume, surpassed only by India.
Analyst Isaac Levi of Finland’s CREA said that this “undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea’s support for Ukraine”. At the same time, the shipments apparently do not violate South Korean law, because Seoul’s restrictions mainly apply to machine tools, electronics, and cars.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not comment on the shipments, but said it had expanded export controls regarding Russia to 1,402 non-strategic goods. The shipments rose sharply in July, when South Korean President Lee Jae-myung promised $100 million for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
At the beginning of August, it was also reported that two tankers had shipped about 30,000 tons of petroleum products from Ulsan to Russia. According to the report, Moscow turned to importing fuel because of Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure.
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