French specialist publication Intelligence Online has published a large-scale investigation claiming that official Ankara is actively helping the Russian Federation successfully circumvent strict Western sanctions on crude oil and petroleum product exports.
According to informed sources, Turkey has recently become a key logistics hub for servicing Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which Moscow regularly uses to conduct covert deliveries of its energy resources to global markets.
One of the many Turkish organizations involved in transporting Russian crude is the major shipping company EMT Gemi Isletmeciligi AS, which on June 15 was officially placed under European Union sanctions due to proven links with Russian tanker vessels. At the same time, experts emphasize that this company is only the tip of the iceberg in large-scale schemes to bypass the energy embargo.
Investigators from European Union countries and Ukraine, working jointly, have concluded that an entire coordinated ecosystem of private Turkish shipping operators is currently in operation. This extensive network has effectively become Moscow’s main international logistics hub, enabling uninterrupted trade in hydrocarbons.
Journalists from the publication explain that this situation became possible because Turkey has deliberately not joined Western sanctions against Russia following the outbreak of hostilities. This has created unique legal conditions in which local Turkish companies can freely manage tankers and vessels under strict EU and UK sanctions, without violating Turkish national law.
Investigative bodies state that the created network of shadow operators is making highly effective use of this legal asymmetry. As a result, Istanbul has effectively become a new Russian economic capital, where large-scale commodity contracts are regularly concluded, fleet management rights are rapidly transferred, special-purpose companies are created to conceal transactions, and sanctioned vessels are legally transferred between owners entirely within the bounds of formal legality.
