Senator warns owner of Agioi Fanendes as first Russian diesel cargoes near US ports
PVT Azura is signalling Norfolk for 2 November and Agioi Fanendes New York for 7 November under General License 135
US Senator Richard Blumenthal has written directly to the Greek owner of the tanker Agioi Fanendes, warning that delivering her cargo of Russian diesel to the United States would be unlawful. The Malta-flagged tanker loaded about 40,000 tonnes of diesel at Primorsk on 22 October, left the Baltic heading west and is declaring "USNY" as her destination, with an expected arrival off New York on 7 November. Her owner is based in Glyfada.
"Should the Agioi Fanendes [arrive] and discharge its cargo, you would be engaged in an illegal transaction or aiding and abetting it," Blumenthal wrote. He asked the owner to identify the seller, buyer, charterer, insurer and terminal operator for the cargo, and to say what guidance the owner had received from the Treasury Department.
The Vietnamese-flagged PVT Azura, carrying about 109,000 barrels of Russian diesel, is signalling Norfolk with an expected arrival on 2 November. Neither cargo has been confirmed as sold to a US buyer.
Why do lawmakers say the trade is illegal?
The cargoes follow the agreement President Donald Trump reached with Moscow on 9 October to ease sanctions and bring down fuel prices. Russia committed to supply an initial 300,000 tonnes of diesel, 500,000 tonnes in November and 1 million tonnes a month after that. The Treasury then issued General License 135, which authorises transactions in Russian-origin diesel until 7 April 2027, and maintains that the arrangement is legal.
Blumenthal, like the six Democrats and one Republican who wrote to six Wall Street banks and the ports of Houston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi and New York and New Jersey on 24 October, relies on the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act of 2022. Waiving that act requires the consent of Congress and a presidential certification that the war in Ukraine is over. "We recognize that the Treasury Department issued General License No. 135 which [purports] to authorize transactions for Russia's diesel exports, but no such license can supersede clear, unambiguous law," he wrote. The earlier letter asked recipients to confirm by 28 October that they were preserving records, and was sent as the sanctioned tanker Leruo crossed the Atlantic with diesel for New York.
Two further tankers left St Petersburg with declared diesel cargoes for North America in the same period. TankerTrackers.com assesses that both are in fact carrying Russian urea ammonium nitrate fertiliser, which is not sanctioned and may be imported into the United States. Several of the Democratic signatories could chair congressional committees if their party wins control of Congress in the midterm elections on 3 November.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 30 October 2026.
