Thirty-five MEPs from various groups and nationalities - members of the Friends of European Ukraine - called, in a letter on Friday 25 April, on the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to take active steps to prevent the sale of Greek ships likely reinforcing the Russian ‘shadow fleet’.
A legal framework was put in place by the EU in December 2023 requiring those selling a vessel to notify and prove that they have checked that it will not undermine sanctions or price caps, according to the European Commission. The EU has already sanctioned 153 vessels of the Russian ‘shadow fleet’.
“According to a Brookings report based on Bloomberg data, 37 per cent of the 75 Russian shadow fleet oil tankers sanctioned by the US in January 2025 were previously owned by Greek owners”, the letter states. MEPs estimate that since the war of aggression, Greek shipowners have made around $4 billion from the sale of ageing ships that ended up in Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’.
MEPs call on the Prime Minister to take all necessary measures to prevent any further sale of Greek-owned vessels “to Russian-owned entities, entities whose provenance cannot be verified, and entities and countries suspected of collaborating with Russia”.
They also urged Mr Mitsotakis to pursue “active and apparently effective” measures to curb illegal and risky ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil in Greek waters and to dissuade Greek companies from transporting Russian oil.
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/gj0 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)