Russian Sovcomflot tankers under the flag of Liberia deliver oil to European ports without hindrance, bypassing Western sanctions. This was reported by the international investigative platform OCCRP, Meduza writes..

According to investigators, the Russian company was able to circumvent the restrictions by registering them as the property of its subsidiaries in Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates..

This makes it difficult to track ownership of ships.. In addition, the company is changing the names of the ships, and the tankers themselves turn off the trackers..

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OCCRP finds more than 18 Sovcomflot tankers continuing to sail to Europe. Each tanker carries $240 million worth of oil on average.. The organization tracked at least five of them as the ships either returned, were on their way to, or were in ports in Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands after EU sanctions against the company took effect.. Who is the buyer of Russian oil delivered by Sovcomflot tankers is unclear.

The European Union imposed sanctions against Sovcomflot in mid-March. A month later, the shipping company reported that due to the restrictions imposed, it would not be able to pay off Eurobonds, and later Sovcomflot announced the sale of part of its fleet. By the summer, the Russian shipping company moved most of its business to Dubai. Before the start of the war, the company's own and chartered fleet consisted of 134 vessels..

In early June, the European Union adopted the sixth package of sanctions, which includes a ban on the import of oil from Russia, delivered by sea, however, the Liberi flag helps to successfully bypass them..

The Liberian Flag Registry is the second largest, oldest and most respected maritime registry in the world, with 4,200 state-of-the-art maritime vessels, with a combined tonnage of 150 million gross register tons.. 12% of the world merchant fleet sails under the flag of Liberia.