Urging the Trump Administration to seize shadow fleet vessels transporting sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation.

Urging the Trump Administration to seize shadow fleet vessels transporting sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation.

Whereas the Russian Federation is the world’s third-largest oil producer, and income from the sale of oil has generated revenue to allow the Russian Federation to fund its war in Ukraine;

Whereas, despite Western sanctions, European Union sanctions, and price caps imposed by the G7, seaborne crude and product exports from the Russian Federation have averaged 5,700,000 barrels per day in 2025, a barely marginal decrease from the 5,800,000 barrels per day in 2022 when the Russian Federation began its illegal invasion of Ukraine;

Whereas, on October 22, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation’s two largest oil companies, Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft) and Public Joint-Stock Company Oil Company Lukoil (Lukoil), “as a result of Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine”;

Whereas the shadow fleet of the Russian Federation comprises at least 561 ships, which have carried between 60 percent and 80 percent of Russian crude exports in recent quarters;

Whereas, in recent years, the United States Government has seized several shadow fleet vessels carrying sanctioned oil from other countries, including from the Islamic Republic of Iran;

Whereas, on December 10, 2025, the United States Government seized the shadow fleet vessel the M/T Skipper, which was previously subject to sanctions for serving as part of “an international oil smuggling network that facilitated oil trades and generated revenue” to support Hezbollah and the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, for transporting—

(1) sanctioned oil from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Syrian Arab Republic in 2024; and

(2) nearly 2,000,000 barrels of crude oil from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the People’s Republic of China between February and July of 2025; and

Whereas the United States Government, using all authorities, including those inherent under article II of the Constitution of the United States, should seize shadow fleet vessels carrying sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation, whose proceeds in part will benefit designated foreign terrorist organizations: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) condemns the use of shadow fleet vessels to transport sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation and views the transport of such oil as conduct that undermines United States national security interests and sanctions regimes;

(2) urges the Trump Administration to seize shadow fleet vessels transporting sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation;

(3) recognizes that seizing shadow fleet vessels engaged in such transport is a lawful and appropriate measure to take against the Russian Federation’s evasion of sanctions and illicit financing of its war in Ukraine; and

(4) calls on allies and partners to also seize shadow fleet vessels transporting sanctioned oil from the Russian Federation.