Despite Sanctions, Russia’s Seaborne Crude Oil Exports Increased in September — Economist Andrii Klymenko

Despite hundreds of Russian vessels being under sanctions that have remained in effect for nearly four years, the volume of Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports has not decreased — in fact, it rose in September. Economist Andrii Klymenko, head of the Monitoring Group at the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, discussed this during the Soyuznyky (Allies) program hosted by Mariia Zolkina. According to him, in September 2025, Russia’s total seaborne crude oil exports increased by roughly 1 million tons.

Klymenko noted that the Institute’s experts monitor around 550 Russian tankers every month across four key maritime regions.

According to their data, Russia exports approximately 22 million tons of crude oil monthly across these regions: about 50% goes to the Baltic region, 23–25% each to the Black Sea and Far East regions, and 5–6% to the Arctic and Murmansk region.

“In the past month, we recorded 23 million tons of exports — an additional one million came from the Black Sea. The rest of the ports remained at previous levels,” the expert said.

Why Maritime Oil Sanctions Are Not Working

Klymenko explained that sanctions on Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports should have been introduced immediately during the first year of the full-scale invasion.

“Over three and a half years, the Russian Federation has built an entirely parallel system for export payments that barely uses the dollar or the euro,” the economist said.

He added that, according to the Institute’s estimates, roughly half of Russia’s exports — not only oil-related — are carried out in such a way that the funds never cross the border, making them extremely hard to trace.

According to Klymenko, barter schemes and cryptocurrency settlements are widely used. Russia also relies on banks in Southeast Asia that are not affected by U.S. or European sanctions.

Klymenko further explained a major loophole in existing sanctions: they prohibit Russian vessels from entering EU ports or using European maritime services.

“The problem,” he noted, “is that Russians no longer depend on them. They ship crude oil primarily to India and China, as well as to Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, and countries in North and West Africa — none of which are under sanctions.”

Circumventing the Rules

The expert described how a Russian tanker departing from Ust-Luga or Primorsk — ports in Russia’s Leningrad region on the Baltic Sea — can freely pass along the Polish coast and through the Danish Straits, despite these being Denmark’s territorial waters.

As Klymenko explained, the sanctions framework contains no restrictions on using territorial waters.

“You can’t enter the ports, but you can sail through the sea. There’s no mandatory pilotage in these areas, which means the tankers aren’t required to contact European pilots or pay them — payments that would otherwise fall under sanction prohibitions,” he said.

Thus, Klymenko concluded, Russian tankers continue operating at sea without interruption, while Russia “mocks the tanker-related sanctions.”

Recently, the United States imposed new restrictions on the country’s two largest oil companies — OAO Rosneft Oil Company and OAO Lukoil — over Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the European Union approved its 19th package of sanctions, which includes expanded restrictions on Russian vessels.

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