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View all search resultsEU proposes extending Russian oil sanctions to maritime services
It has been reported that Karimun, Riau Islands, has been part of a system of traders, shippers and transshipment points, including the floating hub along the Malacca and Singapore straits and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, that has helped keep Russian oil and products flowing, despite the sanctions.
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A view to Pelawan Beach in Karimun Besar Island, which is located in Karimun archipelago regency, Riau Islands. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he European Union has proposed extending its sanctions against Russian oil to include full maritime services, which will affect the third-party countries that handle shipping, delivery and financial transactions.
The proposal, set to affect ports in Kulevi in Georgia and Karimun in Indonesia allegedly involved in handling the oil, would bar EU companies and individuals from conducting transactions with either port.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday the regulation package included sector-wide restrictions, and a shift from the Group of Seven nations' price cap to a full maritime-services ban on Russian crude.
The latest restriction measures are part of the EU's 20th sanctions package over Russia’s war in Ukraine. The package was jointly drafted by the EU's diplomatic service, the EEAS, and the European Commission, and was presented to EU countries on Monday. EU sanctions require unanimity to be adopted into law.
If it comes into force, it will be the first time the bloc would target ports in third countries, a proposal document showed on Monday, as reported by Reuters.
Russian oil exports have shifted to Asia from Europe in the aftermath of Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine as Western sanctions aimed at limiting Moscow's oil revenue make direct imports from Russia difficult for many buyers.
Reuters reported that Karimun, Riau Islands, has been part of a system of traders, shippers and transshipment points, including the floating hub along the Malacca and Singapore straits and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, that has helped keep Russian oil and products flowing, despite the sanctions.
Located in a free trade zone on an island about 37 kilometers southwest of Singapore, Karimun terminal has ramped up imports of Russian oil products to become a key transshipment hub where traders store cargoes whose countries of origin are rebranded before re-export.
From October 2024 to May 2025, for example, it was reported that the terminal had received Russian oil products every month, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, with exports to destinations in Malaysia, Singapore and China. Before that, the data show, Russian oil product arrivals at Karimun were only sporadic.
Read also: Pertamina denies claims of Russian crude transshipment
In a report on Feb. 4, Reuters cited ship-tracking data from Kpler and Vortexa indicating that Indonesia received two cargoes of Russian Sakhalin Blend crude oil, in December 2025 and in January. The cargoes, each measuring approximately 700,000 barrels, were reportedly unloaded at the ports of Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Cilacap in East Java.
Responding to the February report, Karimun Port operator PT Oil Terminal Karimun said it "categorically rejects any suggestion that it facilitates or supports Russian oil or petroleum product trade. Such characterizations are unfounded and inaccurate."
Separately, state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina official Milla Susilo, the former senior communications manager of refinery and petrochemical arm PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (KPI), told The Jakarta Post: “Pertamina has not imported any Russian crude oil.”
Pertamina has also claimed that all its oil imports were carried out in accordance with applicable regulations to secure national energy supplies.
The EU package also adds new import bans on metals such as nickel bars, iron ores and concentrates, unrefined and processed copper and various scrap metals including aluminum. It would also prohibit imports of salt, ammonia, pebbles, silicon and fur skins.
Read also: IEU-CEPA to help iron out ‘any’ remaining bilateral trade issues
The proposal includes the use of an anti-circumvention tool against a third country for the first time. The new restrictions would ban sales of metal cutting machines and communications machines for voice, image and data transmissions like modems and routers to Kyrgyzstan.
The EU also proposed adding two Kyrgyz banks, Keremet and OJSC Capital Bank of Central Asia, to its sanctions list for providing crypto asset services to Russia, as well as banks in Laos and Tajikistan, while removing two Chinese lenders. If approved, the listed banks would be barred from transactions with EU individuals and companies.
To its sanctions framework that includes asset freezes and travel bans, the EEAS proposed adding 30 individuals and 64 companies. These include Bashneft, a listed subsidiary of Russia's oil behemoth Rosneft, as well as eight Russian refineries, among them two major Rosneft-controlled plants, Tuapse and Syzran. The proposal stops short of listing Rosneft or Lukoil, already hit by US sanctions.
