Australia has joined international partners in lowering the Russian oil price cap and has imposed sanctions on a further 95 Russian 'shadow fleet' vessels in a bid to starve Russia's war economy.
But expert and community voices warn the measures fall short, calling instead for a total ban on the import of oil products refined from Russian crude in third countries.
Anton Bogdanovych, a Ukrainian community representative in NSW, argues the sanctions on the shadow fleet will make little practical difference, serving more as a symbolic gesture of solidarity than real pressure on Russia.
"Since we don't buy any Russian crude oil directly and there is no practical sense for the newly sanctioned shadow fleet to transport oil in our waters, I see no impact of these sanctions other than as a signal of solidarity," he told SBS News.
Why Australia is targeting Russia's shadow fleet
Last week, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced sanctions targeting 95 oil tankers from the Russian shadow fleet. These came three months after Australia banned another 60 vessels in June.
Russia's shadow fleet is largely made up of ageing oil vessels, the number unknown but estimated to be hundreds, used to evade sanctions and trade in goods to help support Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Wong said in a statement shadow fleet vessels are used to circumvent international sanctions and support Russia's war economy.
"They also pose serious environmental and maritime safety risks by operating under deceptive practices, including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems, and operating with inadequate insurance, to enable the illicit trade of Russian oil and other sanctioned goods," she said.
In addition, Australia has joined the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Japan in their move to lower the price cap for Russian oil from US$60 ($91) per barrel to US$47.60 ($72).
Wong said the move "will drive down the market value of Russian crude oil and help starve the Russian war economy of oil revenue".
'No significant impact'
Anton Moiseienko is a senior lecturer at the Australian National University Law School, whose work focuses on the legal and policy aspects of economic sanctions.
He told SBS News most of the sanctioned tankers never come near Australia, meaning the new measures are unlikely to have "any significant impact".
"That's not to say that those sanctions are a bad thing. There might still be value in publicly identifying those tankers. It is being done as part of Australia's participation in the broader sanctioning coalition," Moiseienko said.
He said the bigger issue is Australia's ongoing imports of oil products refined from Russian crude through third countries.
"Australia has shown no appetite to either sanction those refineries or impose a blanket ban on the purchases of that refined petroleum in the same way as the EU has done. So what we're seeing now with more sanctions against oil tankers is to some extent a distraction from the real issue," he said.
Oil products derived from Russian crude hard to track
Earlier this month, Senator Jacqui Lambie described the cargo arriving in Australia on tankers as "Russian blood oil".
"Over 10 years ago, Australia was calling for blood diamonds to be included in the international definition of conflict diamonds, and now we're accepting Russian blood oil," she said in the Senate.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air's (CREA) latest report, in the first half of 2025 alone, Australia imported US$1.6 billion ($2.4 billion) of oil products from three refineries in India, of which US$796 million (approximately $1,200 million) is estimated to be derived from Russian crude.
Lambie said the Australian companies should take responsibility for their supply chains, as they do in cases of human rights violations.
Responding to Lambie's comments, Wong said that while the import of Russian oil to Australia is banned, there is no mechanism in place to track all oil products.
In a statement to SBS News, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, Australia has imposed over 1,600 sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, including a ban on the import of oil and refined oil products coming from Russia.
"Regrettably, the mechanisms we would need to track and monitor all energy products via third countries are not in place in those countries," they said.
"We are evaluating options to place further pressure on Russia's oil revenues and the Australian government will continue to take strong action.
"Australians also expect businesses to prevent their supply chains from inadvertently funding Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine — and we ask businesses to uphold that responsibility."
According to DFAT, Australia has provided more than $1.5 billion in military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022.
CREA estimates that the country's imports of oil products, believed to be refined from Russian crude, are now worth more than twice that amount, resulting in billions of dollars in tax revenue for Russia.
Can Australia follow EU's lead?
In July, the EU adopted its 18th package of sanctions against Russia, which included a ban on refined product imports made from Russian crude that are processed outside of Russia.
Moiseienko said the move shows the EU believes it is possible to track oil products.
"The EU has adopted this ban. It will become effective from January 2026. So clearly the EU thinks it's possible to enforce it," he said.
He said there are other legal pathways the Australian government could take, including imposing sanctions on specific refineries in third countries.
"Option number three is to put some economic pressure on countries where those refineries are located. That is the approach that the US government has been advocating: for some form of tariffs on India, that pose a more politically explosive option," he said.
"I understand why there would be reluctance in Australia to employ those methods. But again, there are two other options that are perfectly sensible as well. I think it is frankly past time for the Australian government to become serious about this," Moiseienko said.
Calls to close all 'loopholes'
The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO), an umbrella group of community organisations, thanked the Australian government for "its continued efforts to constrain Russia's oil revenues" but said, "unless all loopholes are closed, Russia will keep finding alternative buyers and channels to fund its brutal invasion of Ukraine".
It called on the government to follow the EU's lead and ban imports of oil products from third countries or refineries that use Russian crude.
In a statement, AFUO said the Australian government should strengthen its monitoring measures, drawing on the existing data "available through international research bodies".
"Every day, Russia's oil exports pay for bombs and missiles that rain down on Ukrainian cities, hospitals and schools."
