One way to counter the Russian Federation’s «shadow fleet», which poses an environmental threat to EU countries, is to enforce mandatory inspections of all «shadow fleet» vessels and ensure that their insurance documents are in proper order. This measure could be used to restrict or even block the passage of dangerous ships within the EU.
This was stated in a comment to Guildhall by Per Clausen, Member of the European Parliament from Denmark.
«Long before the December 2024 oil spill (this refers to the environmental disaster that occurred on 15 December 2024 due to the hull rupture of two Russian Volgoneft-class oil tankers in the Kerch Strait — ed.) I was more than worried about Russia’s «shadow fleet». My concern has always been two-fold: It is ridiculous that we allow Russia to circumvent our sanctions and continue to fund the war. At the same time, it poses a significant threat to our marine environment, either in the way of accidents or via a deliberately orchestrated «accident» by Russia. Every day we let it go on, is one day too much», — the politician stated.
«One way to tackle the «shadow fleet» is to enforce inspections of all «shadow fleet» vessels, and as part of that control that their insurance papers are in order. If not, this can be used to limit or even block the passage of the dangerous fleet. This will be important both to safeguard our environment and to limit the Putin regime’s funds for the war. In fact, from the Nordic Left parties we have long been pushing to use this particular method to limit the «shadow fleet». At first, it was surprisingly hard to even have a discussion on this in EU-circles, but we kept pushing and finally managed to get the European Parliament to back our calls for action. I hope that the fact that others are finally waking up to the threat will mean that we will soon see real and meaningful action on something the EU has ignored for too long», — the MEP concluded.
Earlier, Member of the European Parliament from Latvia and former Mayor of Riga, Mārtiņš Staķis, stated that Russia’s «shadow fleet» could pollute the Baltic Sea for decades and must be placed under comprehensive sanctions. According to him, the Russian «shadow fleet» poses a threat to the environment. If oil leaks into the Baltic Sea, it will be contaminated for decades. Therefore, the entire Russian «shadow fleet» must be subjected to sanctions.
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