The European Union on Monday adopted new sanctions against Russian oil interests targeting businessmen MurtazaLakhani and Etibar Eyyub for helping Moscow circumvent Western sanctions on oil exports that help finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The EU has so far imposed 19 sanctions packages, but Moscow has been able to adapt to most of the measures and is still selling millions of barrels of oil to India and China, albeit at a discount to world prices. Much of this is transported using the so-called shadow fleet of vessels operating outside the Western maritime industry.
The latest EU sanctions ban the bloc’s citizens from doing business with the listed companies and individuals, limiting their access to shipping and insurance providers. The EU has a total of more than 2,600 individuals and companies on the list.
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The EU has targeted nine individuals and entities supporting Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, the Council of the European Union and the EU’s Official Journal said, citing businessmen linked to oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as shipping companies that own and manage tankers.
Analysts expect the EU to introduce more than 40 ships in Russia’s shadow fleet this week, bringing the total to around 600 vessels.
Russia’s Permanent Mission to the EU said in a statement cited by Russian news agencies that the new measures would only harm citizens of European Union countries and prove ineffective.
“We regret Brussels’ failure to recognize a simple truth: if the same action is repeated over and over again and does not produce the desired result, it means that the original strategy is fundamentally not working and is flawed,” it said.
According to him, the measure will intensify “the growing socio-economic problems and the decreasing standard of living of European citizens”.
The oil trader is connected to Russia
Among those targeted by the EU is Canadian-Pakistani oil trader Murtaza Lakhani, CEO of Mercantile & Maritime.
“Through its companies, it facilitates the transportation and export of Russian oil, especially from the Russian state oil company Rosneft,” the list in the EU Official Journal said.
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“Murtaza Lakhani particularly controls vessels carrying oil or oil products originating in or exported from Russia.”
Lakhani, Mercantile & Maritime, Litasco Middle East DMCC and 2Rivers Group did not respond to a request for comment.
Lakhani, 63, runs mid-sized trading house Mercantile & Maritime Group with offices in Singapore and London.
He started his career at global trader Glencore, where he worked on Iraqi oil exports during the Saddam Hussein era, and later moved to Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where he acted as an intermediary between the Ministry of Oil and international companies to sell oil independently of Baghdad.
Kurdistan oil and gas deals
During this period, he helped Russian state-controlled energy giant Rosneft sign oil and gas deals in Kurdistan, working closely with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, including during signing ceremonies at Russia’s main economic forum in St. Petersburg.
Based on this relationship, Lakhani teamed up with leading oil trader Vitol to invest in a 5% stake in Rosneft’s biggest oil project in a decade, Vostok Oil in the Arctic.
“This country (Russia) is the country with the greatest resources in the world. Deterrence is a very short-term effect, not a long-term goal for anyone. They will always need Russia,” he told Russia’s SolovievLive at the St. Petersburg forum in June.
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The EU also listed Valery Kildiyarov, director of sanctioned Lukoil Litasco Middle East trading subsidiary DMCC and manager of another Lukoil trading company, Alghaf Marine, in Dubai.
Eyyub’s listing on the EU stock exchange, along with Anar Madatli and Talat Safarov, related to their links to the trading company Coral Energy, renamed 2Rivers Group, the Council of the European Union said.
Coral Energy has grown into one of Russia’s leading oil traders. Following a management buyout and name change in 2024, 2Rivers claimed the company had largely stopped trading Russian oil in 2023 and terminated its last contract in early 2024.
Following UK and EU sanctions, the company said it halted all business activities in June before dissolving the company in August.
