Ukraine removed 5 Greek tanker companies from the “black list”

They were put on this list for allegedly violating EU sanctions against Russia for transporting Russian oil. It turned out that this was not the case and that the transfers were made in a legal context.

These are the TMS companies of Giorgos Oikonomou, Dynacom Tankers of Giorgos Prokopios, Minerva Marine of Andreas Martinos, Thenamaris of Nikolas Martinos, and Delta Tankers of Diamantis Diamantis. The decision was taken as part of a new package of sanction measures against Moscow.

How we got to the 11th European sanctions package against Russia

The European Union agreed to the 11th package of sanctions against Russia, after the full satisfaction of Greek requests for the removal of the Greek shipping companies that Kyiv had included in the list of “Sponsors of International War”.

Ukraine has long asked the EU to continue imposing additional sanctions on Russia, drawing up a list of legal entities that Kyiv sees as continuing to profit from Russia.

The list in question included a Hungarian bank and Greek shipping companies, which Kyiv described as “international supporters of war”.

Athens pressed the brakes on any European decision for new sanctions against Russia, if the Greek shipping companies, which have not violated any European decision, are not immediately withdrawn from this list.

The Greek shipping companies, which Kyiv had included in this list were the following:

TMS Tankers LTD Dynacοm Tankers Minerva Marine Inc. Thenamaris (Ships Management) Inc. Delta Tankers LTD For Athens, the inclusion of Greek shipping companies in the Ukrainian list was, to put it in diplomatic terms, “unacceptable”. Greece ended Ukraine’s demands by asking that these shipping companies be removed from the list before approving the sanctions package against Russia.

Overnight, Ukraine removed Greek shipping companies from its list, securing the support of Athens for the sanctions package.

Ukraine was forced to back down as Hungary’s objections, with a pro-Russian government within the EU, could potentially be overridden, but Greece’s refusal would spell the definitive end of a joint European response to the 11th package of sanctions against Russia.