A legal translation error and the swift correction by EU diplomats have restored the tanker Millerovo’s full operational status in European waters, official European sources confirmed to Canarymaritime. The General Court of the European Union has ordered the definitive closure of the action brought by Russian shipowner Traveler Shipping OOO (Case T-902/25), bringing to an end a dispute that threatened to halt the vessel’s activity on Atlantic routes and its strategic calls at archipelagos such as the Canary Islands.
The dispute began in October 2025, when the Council of the European Union included the Millerovo (IMO 9035541) in its package of restrictive measures, classifying it as part of the so-called “shadow fleet” used to circumvent the energy embargo on Russia. The shipping company, based in Rostov-on-Don, immediately turned to the EU courts, seeking the annulment of CFSP Decision 2025/2032 and Regulation 2025/2033. The company’s defense demonstrated that the vessel transported exclusively vegetable oil and that its inclusion on the sanctions list resulted from the Commission’s technical staff mistakenly interpreting the term “oil.”
In light of the documentary evidence submitted by the shipowner, the European institutions acknowledged the mistake and removed the vessel from the sanctions list in a subsequent review of the regulatory framework. Following the administrative lifting of the restrictions, Traveler Shipping notified the Luxembourg court on July 1, 2026, of its decision not to continue the legal proceedings, having achieved the central objective of its action.
The order signed by V. Di Bucci, president of the First Chamber of the General Court, formally removes the case from the EU court register and confirms the agreement reached by the parties for each side to bear its own legal costs. The ruling restores the Millerovo’s freedom to call at the ports of EU member states, once again authorizing its commercial operations, berthing and bunkering at the ports of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife without any legal restriction.
The article EU lifts sanctions on Russian vessel Millerovo, allowing it to resume operations in the Canary Islands was first published on canarymaritime.com.
