21 Russian Arctic LNG cargoes come to EU ports

March 6, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

After the latest sanctions package hit a wall in the form of Hungary’s opposition, research from Germany’s non-profit environmental research organization, Urgewald, shows that the February liquefied natural gas (LNG) export figures related to Russian Arctic LNG cargos, which flowed to the European Union (EU), spotlight that European infrastructure and maritime services are still at the forefront of Russia’s LNG export revenues.

While the UK has introduced some new sanctions on Russian LNG, it has imposed nothing on the Arc7 tanker fleet, the vessels said to be at the very heart of Yamal LNG operations. The EU has so far been unable to act due to Hungary blocking the latest sanctions package. However, campaigners are calling on both the UK and EU to close the remaining loopholes without delay.

Vladimir Putin suggested on March 4 that Russia could halt gas supplies to Europe and redirect exports to other markets, linking the move to the EU’s planned ban on Russian gas and the current energy market turmoil triggered by the Middle East crisis related to the military campaign the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran.

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An analysis, which is based on Kpler shipment tracking and Equasis data compiled and assessed by Urgewald, highlights February’s shipment data, which suggests that Russia’s Arctic LNG exports remain heavily dependent on European infrastructure and buyers, with 100% of all Yamal LNG exports in February 2026 going to the EU, totalling 1,543,347 tonnes.

As a result, 21 of 21 Yamal LNG cargoes were delivered to EU ports, despite Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. When year-on-year data is compared, the analysis shows that the EU imports from Yamal rose 0.4% compared with February 2025, with 17 of 21 cargoes transported by vessels linked to the UK’s Seapeak and Greece’s Dynagas.

All of these vessels delivering cargoes were allegedly insured in Europe, with no Yamal shipments bound to China or Asia, compared with four Asia-bound cargoes in February 2025, which is perceived to mark the first February since Yamal began operations in which every cargo was delivered to the EU.

Urgewald claims this underlines that Yamal LNG depends on European markets and demonstrates the lack of viable alternative destinations for Russia’s LNG at scale. The campaigners calls on the UK government and the EU to extend its sanctions on Russian LNG to explicitly cover Yamal and the Arc7 tanker fleet, including vessels operated by Glasgow-based Seapeak.

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Sebastian Rötters, Sanctions Campaigner at Urgewald, commented: “February’s numbers tell a stark story. Every single Yamal cargo went to Europe. Russia had no alternative customer and remained fully dependent on access to EU ports. When Moscow talks about redirecting gas elsewhere, the data tells a different story. For Arctic LNG, Europe remains the only market able to absorb these volumes.

“The EU and UK continue to stand on the sidelines and simply watch the action unfold. Targeting Yamal and the Arc7 fleet is the most direct lever available. Governments know it. They just need to act.”

While shedding light on the two critical lifelines keeping Yamal LNG running, Germany’s non-profit environmental research organization pinpoints access to EU ports, as February 2026 saw every single Yamal LNG cargo delivered to a European port, with no shift toward alternative markets of any kind.

The next lifeline is identified to be dependence on the Arc7 tanker fleet, since during winter operations in the Gulf of Ob only Arc7 ice-class tankers can operate and it is Western companies, not Russia, that operate the fleet keeping Yamal running given that 11 out of the 14 Arc7 vessels serving Yamal LNG are run by Seapeak (six vessels) and Dynagas (five vessels).

Even though Russia launched the first second-generation Arc7 vessel, Aleksey Kosygin, in late 2025, it was only assembled in Russia, as the key components were still manufactured in the West and are currently not being delivered to Russia due to existing sanctions.

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Urgewald emphasized: “European facilitation of Russian LNG exports carries growing security and geopolitical risks, as there are credible reports that the FSB is present on these ships. Sanctions against Yamal, the Arc7 fleet, and the associated maritime services would significantly curb Russia’s ability to sustain exports during winter operations.”

The Alexei Kosygin is among the sanctioned vessels and does not serve Yamal, but ALNG2. Without the European-operated fleet, the non-profit environmental research organization is adamant that Yamal LNG operations would halt almost entirely during the winter months.