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.
Guardian analysis of port records and ship-tracking data found that in July and August over ۱۷۶,۰۰۰ tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, was loaded at several South Korean ports on to seven tankers that made ۱۴ voyages to Russia’s far 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.
“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. “This undermines the sanctions regime and South Korea’s support for Ukraine.”
Seoul has sent Ukraine humanitarian aid and non-lethal military supplies such as helmets, body armour and demining vehicles, and in ۲۰۲۳ pledged $۲.۳bn in support, most of it in loans.
But South Korea has long sought to balance its support for Ukraine with its desire to improve ties with 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. Moscow has signalled an interest in restoring relations with South Korea, including trade ties.
While the fuel trade involves vessels sanctioned by some of Seoul’s western partners, it does not appear to breach South Korean law. South Korea’s own measures against Russia rely mainly on export controls on goods such as industrial machinery, electronics and vehicles.
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.
It is unclear who owned or sold the fuel, which South Korean port records do not show.
The largest carrier, the sanctioned Layla, made two voyages from the south-eastern port of Ulsan to Vladivostok leaving on ۱۹ July and ۱۰ August and carrying ۵۷,۰۰۰ tonnes of diesel in 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.
Another sanctioned tanker, the Russian-flagged Astoria, which is also under Australian sanctions, loaded nearly ۱۱,۰۰۰ tonnes of fuel at Ulsan on ۱ August, declaring Japan as its destination, before sailing to Vladivostok.
The third sanctioned tanker, the Chongchon, never berthed. It took on about ۲۶,۰۰۰ 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.
The owners and managers of the four tankers did not respond to requests for comment.
Russia’s capacity to refine oil has been severely disrupted by Ukrainian drone strikes. Its refinery throughput fell in June to its lowest level in more than ۲۰ years, and diesel output is down nearly ۳۰% on last year, according to the International Energy Agency.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, says Moscow has been forced to import fuel products to feed the “Russian war 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.
In August, Russia imported ۳۶۸,۰۰۰ 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. South Korea accounted for ۱۱۲,۰۰۰ tonnes, or ۳۱%, of that amount, second only to India.
Loadings at South Korean ports began to surge in July, just as the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, pledged $۱۰۰m for Ukraine’s reconstruction at a Nato summit in Turkey.
A ۲۰۲۵ trade association survey found that nearly ۸۰% of South Korean firms that had stopped exporting to Russia since the war began were open to resuming 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.
On ۱ 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 ۲۰۲۷.
When contacted, South Korea’s foreign ministry did not address the shipments or the sanctioned tankers. 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.”
It said it had expanded its export controls on Russia under the Foreign Trade Act “beyond strategic items to ۱,۴۰۲ non-strategic items with a high potential for diversion to military use” and was “strictly enforcing” 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.
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.
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.”
