A Russian tanker breached trade sanctions as it transferred fuel to a North Korean ship at sea at least four times between October 2017 and May 2018, according to two crew members who saw the transfers. During these transfers, the ship had declared the Port of Ningbo in China, as its destination.
The ship had declared the Chinese Port of Ningbo as its destination, but it then met up with a North Korean vessel in international waters to transfer fuel. According to two crewmembers of the ships, the transfer occurred when the ship’s transponder, which tracks the ship at sea, was not operating. The transponder started working again when the Tantal was near Russia.
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Moreover, the ship hid the fuel transfers by declaring when it returned to port that it had transferred the fuel at sea to a Chinese vessel.
However, according to Reuters, the crewmembers who gave this information, did not provide evidence of the violation of the sanctions.
If this action has indeed taken place, then it has violated the international sanctions that are imposed on North Korea due to its nuclear and missiles programme. The sanctions include a United Nations ban on about 90% of refined petroleum exports to Pyongyang.
In addition, the US has accused Russia of also violating the sanctions and claims that it has evidence of these breaches. For its part, responding to these allegations, Russia supports that these accusations are not backed up by evidence.