For much of the past three years, tankers carrying Russian crude oil - usually in violation of Western embargo - skirted Western sanctions and oversight by engaging in so-called Ship-to-Ship (STS) transfers somewhere in the open sea far from prying eyes and even further from hostile coast guard supervision. The practice, usually carried out in secret with digital tracking beacons switched off or falsified, can help to obscure the origins of the oil, helping to beat sanctions. It also creates another layer of separation between the buyers and…
