Oil is being shipped from South Korea to Russia via sanctioned tankers as Moscow scrambles for supplies amid the war in Ukraine, a move one expert said “undermines” Seoul’s public backing for Kyiv.
asserted
expert → ship → Kyiv
Guardian analysis of port records and ship-tracking data found that in July and August over 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, was loaded at several South Korean ports on to seven tankers that made 14 voyages to Russia’s far east.
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that → track → east
Three of the vessels were under sanctions by the UK and EU, and one took on its cargo through a ship-to-ship transfer in South Korean waters – a method that can obscure where a cargo came from and lets ships avoid calling at port terminals.
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ships → take → terminals
“It is shocking that EU-sanctioned tankers loaded fuel at South Korean ports and carried it to Russia”, said Isaac Levi, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finnish thinktank.
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Levi → sanction → Energy
“This undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea’s support for Ukraine.
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This → undermine → Ukraine
Seoul has sent Ukraine humanitarian aid and non-lethal military supplies such as helmets, body armour and demining vehicles, and in 2023 pledged $2.3bn in support, most of it in loans.
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Seoul → send → loans
But South Korea has long sought to balance its support for Ukraine with its desire to improve ties with Russia.
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Korea → seek → Russia
Throughout the war, Seoul has ruled out sending weapons directly to Ukraine, in line with its practice of not supplying lethal arms to countries at war.
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Seoul → rule → war
Moscow has signalled an interest in restoring relations with South Korea, including trade ties.
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Moscow → signal → ties
While the fuel trade involves vessels sanctioned by some of Seoul’s western partners, it does not appear to breach South Korean law.
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it → involve → law
South Korea’s own measures against Russia rely mainly on export controls on goods such as industrial machinery, electronics and vehicles.
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measures → rely → machinery
The shipments, however, risk making Seoul look like a weak link in western efforts to pressure Russia, as relations with Kyiv come under strain over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, which Seoul says was meant to remain secret.
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Seoul → risk → Korea
It is unclear who owned or sold the fuel, which South Korean port records do not show.
uncertain
records → own → which
The largest carrier, the sanctioned Layla, made two voyages from the south-eastern port of Ulsan to Vladivostok leaving on 19 July and 10 August and carrying 57,000 tonnes of diesel in total.
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carrier → sanction → total
On the first trip, it told South Korean authorities its destination was Vladivostok, but on the second it said it was bound for Niigata in Japan.
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it → tell → Japan
Another sanctioned tanker, the Russian-flagged Astoria, which is also under Australian sanctions, loaded nearly 11,000 tonnes of fuel at Ulsan on 1 August, declaring Japan as its destination, before sailing to Vladivostok.
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which → sanction → Vladivostok
The third sanctioned tanker, the Chongchon, never berthed.
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tanker → sanction → ?
It took on about 26,000 tonnes of fuel from an unsanctioned tanker, the Celeste I, at an anchorage off the southern South Korean port of Yeosu in early August, then headed to Vladivostok after declaring Singapore as its destination.
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It → take → destination
The owners and managers of the four tankers did not respond to requests for comment.
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owners → respond → comment
Russia’s capacity to refine oil has been severely disrupted by Ukrainian drone strikes.
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capacity → refine → strikes
Its refinery throughput fell in June to its lowest level in more than 20 years, and diesel output is down nearly 30% on last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
uncertain
output → fall → Agency
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, says Moscow has been forced to import fuel products to feed the “Russian war machine”.
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Moscow → say → machine
According to data from the maritime analytics firm Kpler, the buyers included Rosneft, Russia’s state-controlled oil company, which is under UK, US, EU and Australian sanctions, and NNK, a Russian oil group whose owner, Eduard Khudainatov, and one of its companies, NNK-Oil, are under UK sanctions.
uncertain
owner → accord → sanctions
In August, Russia imported 368,000 tonnes of oil products by sea, more than seven times the previous month and the highest monthly total since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Kpler data analysed by CREA.
uncertain
Russia → import → CREA
South Korea accounted for 112,000 tonnes, or 31%, of that amount, second only to India.
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Korea → account → India
Loadings at South Korean ports began to surge in July, just as the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, pledged $100m for Ukraine’s reconstruction at a Nato summit in Turkey.
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president → begin → Turkey
A 2025 trade association survey found that nearly 80% of South Korean firms that had stopped exporting to Russia since the war began were open to resuming trade.
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war → find → trade
In March, as the war with Iran shut the strait of Hormuz, South Korea capped exports of certain fuels and imported Russian naphtha under a US sanctions waiver.
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Korea → shut → waiver
On 1 October, the UK temporarily exempted South Korea’s existing gas contracts from a ban on maritime services for Russian LNG that takes effect in January 2027.
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that → exempt → January
When contacted, South Korea’s foreign ministry did not address the shipments or the sanctioned tankers.
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ministry → contact → shipments
In a statement, it said that as “a responsible member of the international community, the government supports, and is actively taking part in, international efforts to help end the war in Ukraine and bring about a peaceful recovery.”
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government → say → recovery
It said it had expanded its export controls on Russia under the Foreign Trade Act “beyond strategic items to 1,402 non-strategic items with a high potential for diversion to military use” and was “strictly enforcing” them.
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it → say → them
The government “continues to monitor the implementation of its export controls on Russia and, where necessary, takes action in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations,” the ministry said.
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ministry → continue → laws
The UK Foreign Office did not answer questions about the UK-sanctioned tankers using South Korean ports, or say whether the shipments had been raised with Seoul.
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shipments → answer → Seoul
A spokesperson said: “The UK remains firmly committed to the effective monitoring of our sanctions and to working with international partners to increase economic pressure on Russia and reduce the revenues funding its illegal war against Ukraine.”
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UK → say → Ukraine
The Aporia
