South Korea Says Alleged Russia Fuel Shipments Not Banned

South Korea said Thursday that alleged shipments of diesel that critics say helped alleviate Russian fuel shortages are not subject to export controls, adding the fuel’s provenance was still under investigation. Britain’s Guardian newspaper first reported this week that more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, had been shipped from South Korea to Russia in July and August, citing port records and ship-tracking data.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. South Korea has provided financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the war against Russia, and the report has piled strain on already tense diplomatic relations between Seoul and Kyiv. The countries are already at loggerheads over what Seoul has labelled Kyiv’s “unilateral” revelation that captured North Korean soldiers had been transferred to the South. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Pyongyang has become a key ally of the Kremlin, sending troops to support Moscow’s war effort in return for economic benefits and military technology. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that the alleged diesel shipments stood in “sharp contrast” to South Korea’s sanctions policies, remarks Seoul slammed as “factually incorrect” and “inappropriate”. Seoul’s foreign ministry said Thursday that diesel, even if it had originated in South Korea, would not fall foul of export bans. Other Topics of Interest Bipartisan US Senators Press Trump Administration to Crack Down on Russia’s Shadow Fleet Ahead of Oct. 18 Deadline US senators urge Washington to target Russia’s shadow fleet, illicit banking networks and military technology suppliers ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline. “Refined petroleum products, including commercial diesel and aviation fuel, mentioned in The Guardian’s report, are not subject to South Korea’s export controls against Russia,” it said, noting that overall exports to Moscow had been more than halved since the war’s start. It went on to say it had “not been established whether South Korean-origin fuels, including diesel, were exported to Russia”. The Guardian report said three of the seven tankers said to have been loaded at South Korean ports were under sanctions. The foreign ministry said it was conducting “further checks” on the vessels’ routes to determine if any domestic laws had been violated. Ties between South Korea and Ukraine have been icy since Zelensky disclosed last month the transfer of the two captured North Korean soldiers, a move Seoul said placed the prisoners’ families at risk. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has demanded a public apology for the incident, which Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga called a “diplomatic misunderstanding”.