17. EU Sanctions Package: Will Targeting the “Shadow Fleet” Truly Curtail Russian Revenues?

In May 2025, the European Union adopted the most extensive package of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation since the outbreak of the full-scale war, as an instrument of international and EU law intended to constrain the aggressor state’s capacity to derive benefits from the unlawful use of force within the meaning of the Charter of the United Nations.

The seventeenth sanctions package focuses on tightening the regime targeting the so-called “shadow fleet,” that is, an informal network of vessels used to circumvent the price cap established by the Group of Seven on Russian crude oil and petroleum products. The Council of the European Union announced the imposition of restrictive measures on nearly two hundred vessels, as well as the listing of additional entities linked to the export of energy commodities, including the company Surgutneftegaz. In parallel, the European Commission and the Member States declared their intention to strengthen the enforcement of existing regulations in the energy sector and in the field of dual-use civil-military technologies.

The introduction of these measures forms part of a broader architecture of accountability for aggression. Sectoral and financial sanctions are targeted and proportionate in nature: they sever revenue streams and logistics and insurance services that sustain military capabilities, without treating the civilian population as the object of the measures. They also create conditions conducive to the operation of other accountability mechanisms, including proceedings before the International Criminal Court, initiatives aimed at establishing a special tribunal for the crime of aggression, the exercise of universal jurisdiction by domestic courts, as well as the confiscation of assets linked to violations and future claims for reparations. In other words, tightening the regime against the “shadow fleet” not only reduces the current profitability of oil exports, but also reinforces a coherent and lawful pressure on the aggressor state, aimed at shortening the horizon of its financial capacity to wage war and at safeguarding the foundations of the international system of responsibility.

Read more