World

South Korean Ports Ship Over 176,000 Tonnes of Fuel to Russia Amid Ukraine Conflict

By Raphael Rashid

Guardian analysis of port records and ship‑tracking data shows that in July and August, more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel—mostly diesel—was loaded at several South Korean ports onto seven tankers that made 14 voyages to Russia’s Far East. Three of the vessels were under UK and EU sanctions, and one received its cargo via a ship‑to‑ship transfer in South Korean waters, a method that can obscure the cargo’s origin and allow ships to avoid calling at port terminals. Isaac Levi, an analyst at the Finnish think‑tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), said the shipments “undermine” Seoul’s public support for Kyiv and the sanctions regime.

South Korea has supplied Ukraine with humanitarian aid and non‑lethal military equipment, and in 2023 pledged $2.3 billion in support, most of it in loans. The country has avoided sending weapons directly to Ukraine, following a policy of not supplying lethal arms to warring states. Moscow has expressed interest in restoring trade ties with Seoul.

The shipments do not appear to breach South Korean law. South Korea’s sanctions on Russia focus mainly on export controls for goods such as industrial machinery, electronics and vehicles. However, the fuel trade risks portraying Seoul as a weak link in Western efforts to pressure Russia, especially as relations with Kyiv are strained over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea.

Details of the tankers: the largest carrier, the sanctioned Layla, made two voyages from Ulsan to Vladivostok, carrying 57,000 tonnes of diesel. On the first trip it declared Vladivostok as its destination; on the second it said it was bound for Niigata, Japan. The Russian‑flagged Astoria, also under Australian sanctions, loaded nearly 11,000 tonnes at Ulsan on 1 August, declared Japan as its destination, then sailed to Vladivostok. The third sanctioned tanker, Chongchon, never berthed; it took on about 26,000 tonnes from the unsanctioned Celeste I at an anchorage off Yeosu in early August, then headed to Vladivostok after declaring Singapore as its destination.

Russia’s refining capacity has been severely disrupted by Ukrainian drone strikes. Its refinery throughput fell in June to the lowest level in more than 20 years, and diesel output is down nearly 30% from 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”.

Maritime analytics firm Kpler data shows that 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 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. South Korea accounted for 112,000 tonnes, or 31%, of that amount, second only to India.

Loadings at South Korean ports surged in July, coinciding with President Lee Jae Myung’s pledge of $100 million for Ukraine’s reconstruction at a NATO summit in 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. In March, when 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 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.

When contacted, South Korea’s foreign ministry did not comment on 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 1,402 non‑strategic items with a high potential for diversion to military use” and was “strictly enforcing” them. The ministry added that it “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 UK Foreign Office did not answer questions about the UK‑sanctioned tankers using South Korean ports or 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.”