Zelensky has implemented new NSDC sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet and cultural heritage thieves

President Volodymyr Zelensky has enacted several packages of sanctions against Russia from the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). They are aimed at the Russian shadow fleet and those who help remove Ukrainian monuments from the occupied territories.

The corresponding decrees No. 67/2025 and No. 68/2025 were published on the website of the Office of the President.

The sanctions against the shadow fleet include 56 Russian citizens and one Iranian, who are captains of vessels in this fleet and are involved in exporting Russian oil in circumvention of the price ceiling.

The list also includes the captains of the tankers Liberty Mykola Tsoma, Bolero — Grigory Motaylenko, Cassiopeia — Oleksandr Yurpalov, Callisto — Oleksandr Filkin. All of these vessels are under the US, UK, and EU sanctions, and their operator is the sanctioned Russian company “Sovcomflot”, which is also under US and UK sanctions.

The second package introduces restrictions against a number of people and organizations that contributed to the removal of Ukrainian national heritage from the temporarily occupied territories. In particular, they include:

• First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Sergey Obryvalin;
• Deputy Minister Volodymyr Osintsev;
• Head of the Department of State Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Roman Rybalo;
• Director of the sanctioned Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Makarov.

They issued permits for illegal archaeological excavations in Crimea.

Sanctions were also imposed against the president of the Union of Museums of Russia, the general director of the sanctioned "State Hermitage" Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the sanctioned "Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts" Elizaveta Likhacheva, and the head of archaeological expeditions Sergei Solovyov, who was directly involved in illegal excavations on the territory of Tavrichesky Chersonese, a UNESCO monument.

The sanctions list includes the following illegally registered in the occupied territories: the State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve "Tavrian Chersonese", the "Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve", and the "Central Museum of Taurida".

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