The escalating package of punitive economic measures against Russia has raised serious concerns for foreign shipowners who arranged lease financing deals with the foreign leasing platform of the country’s largest state-owned lessor.

TradeWinds must stress that neither the Moscow-based State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) nor its Dublin-based subsidiary GTLK Global and affiliates have been sanctioned.

However, as the Ukraine crisis worsens, the economic retaliation from governments around the world is ratcheting up.