Blumenthal demands Russian diesel tanker turn back before reaching New York
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal urged shipping companies transporting Russian diesel fuel to the United States to “reverse course while there’s still time,” warning that unloading the fuel at U.S. ports could expose them to legal liability despite authorization from the Trump administration, which he argues cannot override a federal law banning Russian fuel imports. Blumenthal issued the warning in…
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has warned shipping companies transporting Russian diesel fuel to the United States to turn back their vessels before reaching American ports. Blumenthal expressed his concern in a Facebook post on October 28, stating that unloading Russian fuel at U.S. ports would violate a 2022 federal law prohibiting such imports.
He argued that no president can override this law unilaterally. Blumenthal also sent a letter to Greek shipping company EASTMED, urging them to turn around the tanker Agioi Fanendes, which was carrying nearly 40,000 metric tons of Russian diesel fuel. The tanker, a Malta-flagged vessel, had departed a Russian port on October 22 and was scheduled to arrive at the Port of New York and New Jersey on November 7.
Blumenthal demanded that EASTMED recall the tanker if it intended to unload the Russian fuel at a U.S. port. He emphasized that the authorization granted by the Trump administration could not supersede the statutory ban on Russian fuel imports.
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