Despite the sanctions imposed and the fight against the “shadow” fleet, Russian oil processed in third countries will now enter European markets officially and completely legally. The decision of the UK on May 19, 2026, which allowed the import of Russian fuel following similar exceptions from the US, effectively legalized this “gray” and previously illegal scheme. In fact, with the tacit consent of Western countries and because of their decisions, which are panickingly afraid of increasing global fuel shortages and inflation, the Kremlin receives hundreds of millions of euros every month to finance the war in Ukraine, hybrid operations and financing pro-Russian parties and politicians throughout Europe.
The triad of the main “transshipment hubs” is made up of India, Turkey and the UAE. Indian refineries, including Reliance Industries’ giant Jamnagar complex, have become the world’s largest buyers of Russian Urals marine crude. They buy Russian crude at a discount, process it, and then export the resulting diesel and jet fuel to the UK and EU at full market price.
Turkey refines Russian crude at its own facilities, with its largest consumer being the Star refinery, which also serves as a transshipment hub. The refinery is owned by Azerbaijan’s state-owned company SOCAR, which has an agreement with Russia’s Lukoil to supply Urals crude. At times, Russian crude accounted for more than 50–60% of the refinery’s total processing volume, as Turkey did not join Western sanctions. In addition to the official export of petroleum products, Turkish coastal hubs are actively used to mix fuels from different countries, which allows the legal concealment of the Russian footprint in tanker shipments.
The port of Fujairah in the UAE serves as the main financial and logistical center, where the pipeline companies that operate the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” are based. Russian fuel oil and other petroleum products are also supplied here for refueling ships, re-issuing documents, and further legalization of oil flows through complex financial schemes in the Gulf countries.
The logistical infrastructure of this scheme is based on the unprecedented growth of the Russian “shadow fleet,” which, according to analysts, already has from 1,400 to 1,600 old tankers with anonymous beneficiaries and operating without Western insurance. A key tactic for disguising the origin of the raw materials has been ship-to-ship transshipment in neutral waters, most often in the Gulf of Laconia near Greece and the coast of Morocco. Tankers involved in this often resort to turning off their transponders (AIS) when loading in Russian ports on the Baltic or Black Seas. Subsequently, in transit hubs in Turkey or the UAE, the fuel is blended (technologically mixed with petroleum products from other countries), which allows the Russian trace to be legally “dissolved” and European certificates to be obtained before the fuel is delivered to ports in the UK and other EU countries. According to estimates by leading international think tanks, including CREA (Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air), since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has been able to attract more than €120–150 billion in direct revenue to its budget thanks to the Turkish oil “laundry”. In general, through the mediation of Turkey and similar hubs in India, which massively processed Russian Urals raw materials into diesel and jet fuel for the EU market, the Kremlin received about and at least €350–400 billion in total revenue from circumventing the embargo. These revenues, secured through loopholes in European legislation, essentially neutralized the sanctions pressure of the West.
The Kremlin took advantage of the fact that European countries and the United States turned a blind eye to the gray schemes and did not set a goal to completely eliminate Russian oil from the world market (which would cause a jump in prices to $150 per barrel and a global crisis), but simply tried to deprive Russia of superprofits. Currently, it not only benefits from jumps in world oil prices to increase its own profits, but also deliberately poses a threat to shipping in the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. This protracted logistical and energy chaos is part of a deliberate strategy, as by driving the West into a trap of high inflation and raw material shortages, Moscow is trying to force European capitals to capitulate in the economic war and return to purchasing Russian energy as the only “alternative” to global instability.
However, this scenario only confirms that the only effective response from the democratic world should be the complete and uncompromising isolation of the Russian energy sector, which remains the main financial donor of the Kremlin’s aggressive policy. If the sanctions are selective, Russia will receive the necessary revenue to finance the war and keep its economy from complete collapse and pressure on Europe.