By Nidhi Verma and Jonathan Saul
       NEW DELHI/LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - India's ship
certification agency has withdrawn safety cover issued to
Russian oil tankers that have been placed under U.S. sanctions,
according to its website, with the vessels instead turning to a
domestic provider. 
    Major insurers and ship engine makers have already 
withdrawn cover for Russia's tanker fleet, which Moscow is
relying on to maintain the country's oil trade after Washington
and its allies including the European Union imposed a raft of
sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
    Classification societies provide services including the
seaworthiness checks that are necessary for securing entry to
port and services such as insurance. 
    The Indian Register of Ships (IRClass) - among the world's
top ship certifiers that form The International Association of
Classification Societies (IACS) - had emerged as a provider of
safety certification for Russian vessels over the last two
years. 
    But in February, while designating Russian shipping giant
Sovcomflot, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control, also placed 14 vessels that had been certified by
IRClass under sanctions. 
    IRClass still provides safety cover for two of the 14 
vessels, the NS Consul and NS Creation, according to its
website, while cover has been withdrawn from the other 12.
    Those 12 vessels have been transferred to the Russian
Maritime Register of Shipping (RSClass) since April, according
to separate data on RSClass's website.
    IRClass and RSClass did not respond to requests for comment.
    IACS withdrew RSClass's membership in March 2022. Not having
IACS cover could complicate entry into some ports, including in
India, even with other certification in place.
    The majority of the tankers, some of which have changed
their name since losing the IRClass certification, are currently
anchored in or sailing to Russian ports, including Nakhodka and
Vladivostok in Asia and Ust-Luga and Novorossisk in the Black
Sea, ship tracking data on LSEG showed. 
    

 Below is the table of some of the sanctioned vessels with their
new names.   
      Old Name with IMO Number       New Name
                                             
 NS Antarctic (IMO 9413559)      Antarktika
 NS Lion (IMO 9339313)           Ladoga
 NS Consul (IMO 9341093)         Kolomna
 NS Burgas (IMO 9411020          Bratsk
 NS Columbus (IMO 9312884)       Kemerovo
 Sakhalin Island (IMO 9249128)   Sakhalin
 NS BRAVO (IMO 9412359)          Belgorod
 

    
 (Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Jonathan Saul in London
and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)