US sanctions four shipping firms among nearly 300 suppliers linked to Russia

The United States has placed sanctions on more than 280 individuals and entities linked to Russia with four of them being shipping companies working on the Arctic LNG 2 project.

With this massive-scale sanction wave, the US targeted Russia’s future energy, metals, mining, and export capacity as well as sanctions evasion and circumvention – all in an attempt to hinder Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine.

The US Department of Treasury said that these sanctions included companies and individuals in third countries that help Russia acquire key inputs for weapons or defence-related production. More precisely, the US stated that it was concerned about entities based in China.

The US also placed sanctions on entities which worked on the development of Russia’s future energy production and export capacity. More precisely, two vessel operators involved in the transport of highly specialized LNG modules and gravity-based structure equipment designed for the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Two Russian maritime logistics and construction support companies were also placed under sanctions for their involvement in Russian energy projects, including Arctic LNG 2.

“The Arctic LNG 2 project has relied on foreign service companies’ technology and maritime logistics support, and today’s actions are designed to further promote accountability for entities providing material support to [the operator] of the Arctic LNG 2 project,” the State Department said.

The project operator was placed under sanctions back in November 2023, as well as multiple other entities involved in its development.

The four designated companies include Singapore-based Red Box Energy Services which provided LNG module transportation services for the project. Red Box is the operator and ship manager of the Audax and Pugnax vessels which transported LNG modules for the Arctic LNG 2 operator after it was placed under sanctions.

Hong Kong-based shipping company CFU Shipping and its heavy load carriers Hunter Star and Nan Feng Zhi Xing, which delivered the final LNG module for the second production train of the Arctic LNG 2 project, were also placed under sanctions by the State Department.

Eko Shipping and Transstroy were the other two shipping companies to be placed under sanctions. Eko Shipping has an interest in nine vessels and was linked to work on the LNG project while Transstroy and its three vessels were linked to work on the Novatek Murmansk Belokamenka Shipyard.

“Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military-industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it. Combined, our support for Ukraine and our relentless targeting of Russia’s military capacity is giving Ukraine a critical leg-up on the battlefield,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen.