The U.S. State Department sanctioned two companies and two LNG tankers on Sept. 5 for attempting to take LNG from Russia’s Arctic 2 project to the world market.

The U.S. is sanctioning Gotik Energy Shipping Co., and Plio Energy Cargo Shipping, two companies based in India. The companies are linked to the two tankers, Mulan (Gotik) and New Energy (Plio).

“In response to Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine, the United States is imposing further costs on those supporting Russia’s war effort and attempting to expand Russia’s global energy leverage,” said Matthew Miller, State Department spokesman, in a press release.

The U.S. government has accused Russia of creating a “ghost fleet” of LNG and oil tankers that use deceptive practices to get around sanctions imposed on the country since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. added the New Energy and Mulan vessels to a list of seven others that were sanctioned late August.

According to the State Department, New Energy switched off its satellite-linked identification system to conduct a ship-to-ship transfer of cargo from the LNG tanker Pioneer, a ship that was sanctioned by the U.S. on Aug. 23.

The State Department did not release information on why the Mulan vessel had been sanctioned.

Under the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury has demanded the ships wind down current operations by Nov. 6 and not enter into any new commercial contracts.

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