Germany claims that a Russian “shadow” oil tanker is stuck in the Baltic Sea

Although the Panamanian flag is on the ship, the German authorities blamed Russia for the incident.

“Russia endangers our European security not only with its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, but also with severed cables, displaced border buoys, disinformation campaigns, GPS jamming systems and, as we have seen, dilapidated oil tankers,” the foreign minister said of Germany in the application.

Last December, the European Union said it was working on measures, including sanctions, aimed at “Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment while funding Russia’s military budget.”

The European bloc’s comments came after submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged by a suspected vessel that the EU believes was part of Russia’s shadow fleet.

The move was yet another move by Western countries to strike at the Kremlin’s oil industry in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

As tougher embargo measures have been imposed to stop Russia from exporting oil, Moscow is believed to be using ships of unknown ownership to transport goods, namely oil, around the world.

According to the Atlantic Council, an American think tank, Russia is “instrumentalizing the dark navy, using it especially as the main pipeline for oil exports.”

According to the Atlantic Council, a shadow fleet or dark fleet refers to obsolete ships that sail “without standard Western industry insurance, have opaque ownership, frequently change their names and flag registrations, and generally operate outside the rules of maritime shipping.” .

The latest incident in the Baltic Sea occurred when Washington and London joined forces for direct sanctions against the energy companies Gazprom Nafta and Surgutneftegaz.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the move to weaken Russian oil companies would “deplete Russia’s military chest,” adding that funds taken “from Putin’s hands are helping to save Ukrainian lives.”

But Gazprom Nafta criticized the sanctions as “groundless” and “illegitimate,” according to Russian state news agencies.

Also on Friday, the US Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on 183 vessels that are “part of the shadow fleet, as well as oil tankers owned by Russian fleet operators.”