Sweden to strengthen surveillance of Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Baltic Sea

The Swedish government will tighten controls on foreign vessels in the Baltic Sea.

This is reported by the Sweden Herald.

From July 1, the Coast Guard and the Swedish Maritime Administration will be able to collect insurance information from vessels that not only enter a port, but also simply pass through Swedish territorial waters or the economic zone.

“We believe that this will have both a deterrent effect on vessels that are part of the Russian shadow fleet, and will create a basis for taking other measures, such as imposing sanctions on more vessels,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told Swedish radio Ekot.

According to the minister, tightening controls is an important element in the fight against the “shadow fleet”, which consists of vessels that are often old, have an unclear ownership structure, do not have insurance and are used to circumvent sanctions such as oil price caps.

“This underlines Sweden’s clear presence in the Baltic Sea, which has a deterrent effect. It also provides Sweden and our allies with important information about the vessels, which can be used as a basis for imposing sanctions on more shadow fleet vessels,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a press release.

Earlier, USM reported that Russia had begun naval escorts of shadow fleet tankers.