Activists say tankers in several of the country’s largest supermarkets have been spotted delivering diesel fuel from Russia.
Greenpeace filmed the Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrison tankers at the Navigation Terminal on the Thames in Essex.
Greenpeace said the tankers began loading fuel hours after delivering 33,000 tonnes of diesel to the site, although the terminal also handles cargo from other countries.
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Elena Polisano, a Greenpeace campaigner, said: “Supermarkets quickly pulled Russian vodka off the shelves and renamed their Chicken Kievs as Chicken Kyivs.
“Customers will be outraged if supermarkets ask them to donate money to Ukraine at the checkout, but transfer the money to Putin when they refuel.”
The UK government has said it will phase out imports of Russian oil products by the end of the year, but in the meantime, tankers can continue to enter the UK.
The British Retail Federation said the supermarkets also planned to phase out Rosneft by the end of the year.
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“Our members are fully committed to phasing out Rosneft as determined by the government and are working hard to do this as soon as possible while ensuring a good supply for customers,” said Andrew Opie, BRC’s head of food.
But Greenpeace called for the ban to be expedited.
“If Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison really want to support Ukraine, they should make sure they don’t fill their pumps with Putin diesel that directly funded his bloody war,” it said.
“At the very least, they should demand that the government immediately ban the import of Russian fossil fuels.”
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A recent YouGov poll commissioned by Greenpeace found nearly three-quarters of Britons were unaware supermarkets were selling Russian diesel, with 71% wanting such sales to end immediately.
Asda and Tesco declined to comment, while Morrison did not respond to requests for comment.
Sainsbury’s said it is working to reduce the amount of diesel it sells from Russia and will stop all sales by the end of the year.
There were several other deliveries of fuel to the navigation terminal site in the days leading up to the tanker’s arrival.
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August Graham is a reporter from Pennsylvania City.
