The United States has lifted sanctions on three Russian-flagged maritime vessels. This is stated in the report of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department published on Tuesday.
The report on the lifting of sanctions, particularly those related to Russia, mentions the container ships Fesco Moneron, Fesco Magadan and the cargo ship Sv. Nikolay. The reasons for this decision are not given.
Fesco Moneron and Fesco Magadan were sanctioned on 22 February 2022. The vessel Sv. Nikolay was included in the list of restrictions on 6 April of the same year.
According to the publication Important Stories, the container ships were placed on the sanctions lists as part of the restrictions against Promsvyazbank, which operates as a back-up bank of the Russian Ministry of Defence. The vessels were owned by the bank’s subsidiary PSB-Leasing in 2022. The vessels were not found to be involved in sanctions violations, transporting weapons, dual-use goods or smuggling. Today they are owned by a company linked to logistics operator Fesco. The withdrawal from sanctions is probably related to this, Important Stories speculated.
The vessel Sv. Nikolay was also subject to secondary sanctions for its ties to a major Russian bank. Its connection to Alfa Leasing, a company owned by Alfa Bank, was cited. The cargo ship is now noted to be owned by the Russian shipping company Rivers Plus.
US lifts sanctions on three Russian maritime vessels