Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers closed loophole through which Russian fuel entered Ukraine
Ukraine has banned the import of fuel of unknown origin so that Russian energy resources do not enter the market to circumvent sanctions.
Source: Mykola Kolisnyk, Deputy Minister of Energy; Serhii Koretskyi, Head of Ukrnafta
Details: Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, at its meeting on Tuesday, supplemented Resolution No. 1147 on the ban on importing goods from the Russian Federation with a prohibition on importing fuel of unknown origin. As Kolisnyk noted, this was necessary to block the entry of Russian fuel, oil, and petroleum products into Ukraine.
The ban will apply to the following goods:
- crude oil and oil products obtained from bituminous coal;
- oil and oil products obtained from bituminous coals, except raw, and products with a content of 70 wt% or more of oil or oil products;
- petroleum gases and other hydrocarbons in a gaseous state;
- alternative motor fuel;
- biodiesel and its mixtures, which do not contain or contain less than 70 wt% of oil or oil products obtained from bituminous coal.
Despite the sanctions, the fuel of Russian origin entered EU countries, Türkiye, and other countries, from where it went to the Ukrainian market as a resource of uncertain origin, explained Kolisnyk. Such a resource is sold at a discount, which makes alternative supply routes economically unprofitable and causes a significant risk of fuel market destabilisation.
According to Koretskyi, Russian liquefied gas began appearing in Ukraine in the autumn of 2022 under the guise of products from Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. At the same time, according to the documents, Russian diesel was sent from Albania, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Türkiye, and India.
Quote: "Not all of these countries have oil refining at all. It was cheap, so some traders turned a blind eye to cooperation with the enemy. The loopholes are closed from now," Koretskyi noted.
He explained that the customs authorities will require a certificate about the country of origin of the fuel during the registration of oil products. Only those oil products that have documents from the manufacturing plant will be able to enter the country.
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