Putin’s oil tankers are being manned by EU and Ukrainian companies

3 comments

1. Also see,

   [US-and-european-shipowners-sold-230-ageing-tankers-to-Russian-shadow-fleet](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/04/us-and-european-shipowners-sold-230-ageing-tankers-to-russian-shadow-fleet)

   > European and US shipowners

   I think this should be called out, it’s not Chinese or Indian ship owners… The West is ruled by Oligarchs just as much as Russia. Watch the consequences never visit them.

   > Greek owners had sold the largest number of tankers, offloading 127 vessels, with UK companies selling 22 and German and Norwegian owners 11 and eight. Most would otherwise have been sold for scrap at a fraction of the price, it said.

   > “A lot of European shipowners had old tonnage that they thought wasn’t really worth much,” an analyst at Lloyd’s List, the specialist shipping newspaper, told the consortium. “All of a sudden it doubled in value – so they scrambled to sell it.”

2. Did anyone actually expect anything else? 

   Behind all the propaganda about Russians being a threat for Europe, Ukrainians being Russia’s mortal enemies, or the West bravely standing with Ukraine to defend Democracy, the war is very limited and controlled, and it’s mostly business as usual for all sides, with a layer of intermediaries taking a cut for rerouting goods through China and ex-Soviet states.

   Common people are whipped into a frenzy of hate, like that British kid who went off to Ukraine to get killed, but politicians still talk and laugh with each other, and the safest places in both Russia and Ukraine are respective presidents’ dachas and gas and oil pipes.

3. EU: “Slava Ukraini!” Also EU: *quietly crews Putin’s oil fleet with Ukrainians*.

   The West is playing 4D chess where the pawns are oil tankers, the board is on fire, and everyone loses except Putin’s wallet.

   The EU’s strategy: “We’ll sanction Russia so hard, they’ll have to sell their oil… *to ourselves*. Slava loopholes!” 🌍⛽💸

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