Russian “shadow fleet” tankers continue to spill oil in European seas, investigation finds

Russian ships from the so-called “shadow fleet” continue to pollute European waters with oil, bypassing Western sanctions.

This is stated in a joint investigation by Politico and SourceMaterial.

According to journalists, at least five tankers associated with Russia have left oil stains off the coast of Europe over the past year, after which they continued to move unhindered in European waters. Two of these ships were already under sanctions by the UK.

Satellite images from SkyTruth, combined with Kpler data, showed that oil spills occurred, in particular, off the Spanish coast in the Bay of Biscay. One of these ships was the tanker “Dinasty”, which left a 12-kilometer stain during a voyage from India to the Russian port of Primorsk.

Analysts estimate that the cost of cleaning up a major oil spill caused by such a vessel could be as high as €1.4 billion, and these costs are likely to be borne by European taxpayers, as tanker owners are often untraceable.

After the introduction of a “price ceiling” on Russian oil in 2022, Moscow has been actively using old, poorly insured vessels with opaque ownership schemes. According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, Russia’s “shadow fleet” numbers about 1,300 tankers, almost a fifth of the world’s fleet.

The EU has already banned 444 Russian-linked vessels from entering its ports, and the UK has banned 450. However, experts admit that sanctions remain ineffective: tankers continue to change flags, names and companies, making it impossible to monitor.

The European Commission, within the framework of the 19th package of sanctions, plans to expand the “black list” to more than 100 vessels and increase pressure not only on carriers, but also on oil refineries, insurance companies and maritime registries that cooperate with the “shadow fleet”.

France, Estonia and other countries have already begun to detain suspicious vessels, and NATO is preparing joint actions to hinder the fleet’s activities in European waters.

Earlier, USM reported that Putin called the detention of vessels of the Russian “shadow fleet” “illegal actions”.