One Tanker Came Off the British List
A single party moved on a monitored sanctions list overnight, and it was a ship. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office revoked the specification of the oil tanker ASTRA under the Russia regime, a little over a year after specifying it. Nothing else moved anywhere: not Washington, not the United Nations, not Brussels, not Ottawa, where the same hull is in fact still listed. Away from the lists, a former bank chief executive was sentenced for a Venezuela sanctions-evasion conspiracy that brought his own bank down. The vessel is ASTRA, an oil tanker carrying IMO number 9273387, listed on the UK Sanctions List under the unique identifier RUS3003. Britain specified it on 12 September 2025, in the batch of seventy ships named that day alongside twenty seven entities and three individuals under the Russia regime. The statement of reasons was the standard shadow-fleet formulation: the vessel was involved in carrying oil or oil products that originated in Russia from Russia to a third country. As at 21 September 2026 that specification is revoked. The vessel is recorded as an oil tanker whose current owner operators are Stravax Shipping Co Ltd and whose current believed flag is Vietnam.
This issue
- New designations
- 0
- Removals
- 1
- Entries amended
- 0
- Sources monitored
- 85
A Shadow-Fleet Tanker Is No Longer Specified
The vessel is ASTRA, an oil tanker carrying IMO number 9273387, listed on the UK Sanctions List under the unique identifier RUS3003. Britain specified it on 12 September 2025, in the batch of seventy ships named that day alongside twenty seven entities and three individuals under the Russia regime. The statement of reasons was the standard shadow-fleet formulation: the vessel was involved in carrying oil or oil products that originated in Russia from Russia to a third country. As at 21 September 2026 that specification is revoked. The vessel is recorded as an oil tanker whose current owner operators are Stravax Shipping Co Ltd and whose current believed flag is Vietnam.
The term used matters. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office distinguishes a revocation, which follows its own decision-making process, from a delisting, which follows a decision of the United Nations. This was a revocation, and no reason for it is published. The practical effect is immediate and narrow: the port entry prohibition, the port barring, detention and movement directions and the liability to have its registration terminated all fall away for this hull and for no other. Every other vessel specified on 12 September 2025 remains specified. Neighbouring identifiers either side of RUS3003, from RUS3001 to RUS3005, are all still on the list.
Party detail
Every row below was read against the issuing authority's own notice, not against a press report. Aliases are reproduced in full, including non Latin script forms, because the alias field is where a screening run usually fails. Identifiers are published sanctions data.
| Party | Action and instrument | Identifiers | Grounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASTRA | RemovalThe Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 | Nationality: Vietnam, current believed flagIMO number: 9273387Identifier: type of ship Oil TankerIdentifier: current owner operators Stravax Shipping Co LtdIdentifier: current believed flag VietnamIdentifier: designation source United KingdomAddress: No fixed address; the entry is a vessel rather than a person or an entity | The statement of reasons, as it stood immediately before revocation, recorded that IMO 9273387 (ASTRA) is, has been or is likely to be involved in activity whose object or effect is to destabilise Ukraine or to undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine, or to obtain a benefit from or support the Government of Russia, namely that ASTRA was involved in carrying oil or oil products that originated in Russia from Russia to a third country. That specification has now been revoked. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office distinguishes a revocation, which follows its own decision-making process, from a delisting, which follows a decision of the United Nations. This was a revocation. IMPORTANT, THE HULL IS NOT CLEAN. The revocation is British and British only. The same vessel remains listed by Canada under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, Schedule 1.1 item 322, listed 6 November 2025, carried on the consolidated Canadian autonomous sanctions list as Astra, IMO 9273387. It is not on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals List, which was checked for this identifier at the 18 September 2026 publication and returns no match. Retire the British record only |
What this means for your organisation
- 01
Retire the British record only, and do not release the hull: The same vessel is still listed by Canada as Astra, IMO 9273387, under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations at Schedule 1.1 item 322. It is not on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals List. Retire the UK Sanctions List record under identifier RUS3003, leave the Canadian record standing, and check that your engine can hold a released British position and a live Canadian position on one hull at the same time.
- 02
Reconcile by identifier, and match the hull rather than the name: Search your active UK file for RUS3003, for IMO number 9273387 and for the vessel name ASTRA, and confirm the British record is gone. ASTRA is a common vessel name and only the hull carrying IMO 9273387 is affected, so match on the IMO number. Every other ship specified on 12 September 2025 remains specified, and the identifiers immediately either side of RUS3003 are all still on the British list. Record the date you acted, because on a removal that is the question an examiner asks.
- 03
Test whether a licence closes a chain or only a step in your controls: The Puerto Rican sentencing below turns on a properly authorised foreclosure followed by an unlicensed sale back to the designated person through a front company. Take one live or recent licence in your own book and ask what the control tested: the step described in the application, or the economic outcome the whole chain produced. If the answer is the former, that is the gap to close this week.
- 04
Log the unverified registers rather than marking them clear: Sixty-two of the eighty-five registers in scope were retrieved this cycle and twenty-three were not. Six that were flagged as changed could not be read in a form that permits verification, among them Nigeria's CBN circulars, the Bank Al-Maghrib circulaires path, the MAS circulars index and the Bank of Ghana notices register. All are carried forward. The distinction between checked-and-clear and could-not-be-checked is the one an examiner will ask you to evidence.
Where this issue came from
The map plots the sources Youverify monitors. The pulsing markers are the one authorities cited in this issue: FCDO. Hover any marker to name the sources read there.
Method statement
Parties are taken from the issuing authorities' list data and notices as recorded in the Youverify Sanctions Monitor of 22 September 2026, one row per party. Website copy for this archive edition is compiled from that day's published briefing.
Corrections
No corrections issued for this issue. Corrections are published on the issue they affect, dated, with the original text retained.Cite this issue
Vyra from Youverify. "One Tanker Came Off the British List." Youverify Sanctions Monitor, issue 130, 22 September 2026. https://youverify.co/en/sanctions/2026-09-22. Accessed 22 September 2026.