Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Joint Maritime Security Centre is taking steps to ensure that the (a) beneficial ownership of Russian vessels is tracked when ships are transferred to open or international registries and (b) ban on Russian ships accessing UK ports is maintained if the beneficial owners commercially operate from Russia; and how many vessels with Russian beneficial owners, but who's flag has changed, have been identified as attempting to (i) circumvent the port ban and (ii) evade sanctions.

The Joint Maritime Security Centre provides Department for Transport officials with regular vessel tracking reports for Russian-linked commercial ships thought to be heading towards the UK Marine Area, including where Russia is identified as the country of beneficial ownership. This monitoring is not limited to Russian-flagged vessels, but all registries, where a Russian link is identified.

Department for Transport officials maintain close contact with the maritime industry to assist the port sector in undertaking their own due diligence. Government support has included the publication of six versions of industry guidance and regular intelligence reports containing Ships of Potential Interest, which are those identified as having a potential Russian connection. The legal duty under the Russia (Sanctions)(EU Exit) Regulations 2019, as amended (the Regulations) remains with UK ports to reach an assessment as to whether they know or have reasonable cause to suspect that a ship falls within scope of the port ban.

The prohibition on UK port entry in the Regulations applies to certain ships including “a ship owned, controlled, chartered or operated by persons connected with Russia”. The definition of a person “connected with Russia” includes but is not limited to individuals who are “ordinarily resident in Russia” or “located in Russia”, or companies that are “incorporated or constituted under the law of Russia” or “domiciled in Russia”.

At the start of the conflict, at least twenty-eight ships were knowingly frustrated by the UK sanctions, having been refused entry by ports; diverted by their owner or operator; or having changed their ownership or operational structures to ensure compliance. We have now seen a wholesale change in Russian shipping activity which has seen an extensive reduction in the number of Russian-linked ships transiting UK waters and no recent attempts by such ships to enter UK ports.