Georgia’s Revenue Service said a Liberian-flagged vessel delivered crude oil to Georgia’s Kulevi port from a Russian company, noting that the vessel, its owner, and the cargo are not under international sanctions, with the statement strongly emphasizing state agencies’ sanctions compliance.
According to the agency, the vessel Nostos entered Kulevi on January 8 carrying 40,143 tons of crude oil intended for import customs clearance. The cargo was sent “from a Russian company, through a foreign intermediary, to a Georgian company,” the Revenue Service said in a January 12 statement, withholding the names of the companies.
Much of the agency’s statement focused on sanctions compliance. It said screening conducted by the Maritime Transport Agency “confirmed that no international sanctions apply to the vessel, its owner, or the cargo,” and that the “shipment entered the country in full compliance with legal procedures.”
The Revenue Service added that together with the Maritime Transport Agency, it carries out “constant, coordinated checks” of vessels and vessel owners in relation to international sanctions, and that if a vessel or its owner is on a sanctions list, it “is not permitted to enter Georgia’s ports or undergo customs procedures.” It also said it is “continuously implementing relevant measures and tightening controls” to prevent attempts to use Georgia’s customs territory to “circumvent international sanctions.”
According to vessel-tracking data from VesselFinder, Nostos is as of January 12 in the Black Sea en route to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, with an expected arrival on January 13.
In a separate case, Georgia’s Border Police reported on January 10 the brief detention of a tanker sailing under the Panamanian flag for violating maritime navigation rules. The ship had previously been registered under a Russian flag.
The statements come amid continued questions about whether Georgia may be facilitating the circumvention of sanctions on Russian oil.
Also Read:
- 08/01/2026 – Georgian Citizens Reportedly Among Crew of US-Seized Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker
- 24/12/2025 – iFact: Russian Oil Products May Be Reaching Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece via Georgia
- 05/12/2025 – TI-Georgia: Kulevi Oil Refinery May Raise Sanctions Evasion Suspicions in West
- 22/10/2025 – Russian Company Supplies First Oil Cargo to Georgia’s New Kulevi Refinery
The post Revenue Service Stresses Georgia’s Sanctions Compliance Over Russian-Origin Oil Shipment first appeared on The South Caucasus News – SouthCaucasusNews.com.
