Germany says Russian ‘shadow’ oil tanker stuck in Baltic Sea

German officials say the oil tanker in German waters belongs to “shadow” Russia, which Berlin says is used to avoid sanctions.

Germany’s maritime authorities (CCME) said on Friday that the Panamanian ship, known as the Eventin, lost power and steering, meaning cargo boats were deployed to protect the ship.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized Moscow, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “smuggling” sanctions and threatening European security by “brutally sending in a bunch of rusty tanks”.

Russia, which has previously refused to respond to accusations that it uses shadow, has not commented on this incident.

The US, UK and EU have it were given punishments on the Russian oil industry following a full Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In its first report on the tanker sailing in German waters, the CCME said the ship was 274m (898ft) long and 48m (157ft) wide, carrying about 99,000 tonnes of fuel.

German shipping officials said the tanker was moving slowly along the Baltic Sea, north of the German island of Rügen.

A four-man team of experts was lowered from the ship by helicopter on Friday night to set up the towbars, which were secured. Three tugboats seized the “stricken ship” which was “unmanageable”.

Marine officials said Friday night that no oil spill had been found.

In his latest update on Saturday in the evening, German shipping officials said the tugboat was headed to Sassnitz, a town on the island of Rügen, and would arrive early Sunday.

Earlier, officials said the group of tugboats working to rescue Eventin remained north of Rügen and were moving east “slowly”, about 2.5 km/h (1.5 mph).

The CCME said it will take measures to protect against typhoons, as the ship’s area has 2.5m-high (8ft) waves and strong winds.

Although the ship flies the Panamanian flag, German officials say Russia was behind it.

“Russia is putting our security in Europe at risk not only with its illegal war against Ukraine, but also with cordon cuts, cross-border missile launches, assassination campaigns, GPS recordings and, as we have seen, oil tankers being destroyed,” the foreign minister said. Germany. in a sentence.

Last December, the European Union said it was working on measures including sanctions to deal with “Russia’s shadow operations, which threaten security and the environment, while supporting Russia’s military budget”.

The European bloc’s comments came after submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged by a suspected ship, which the EU believes was part of a Russian fleet.

The move was another tactic by the West to undermine the Kremlin’s oil industry in response to Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.

With strong sanctions to stop Russia from exporting oil, they are believed to be using undisclosed vessels to transport goods – namely oil – around the world.

As the Atlantic Council, based in the US, said, Russia is “using black weapons, and using them mainly as a primary means of exporting oil”.

Dark ships, or dark ships, is the name given to old ships that sail “without Western corporate insurance, have obscure ownership, change their names and register flags, and operate outside maritime law”, according to the Atlantic Council. .

The latest development in the Baltic Sea comes as Washington and London have agreed to directly test the energy companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the move to weaken Russia’s oil industry would “destroy Russia’s war chest”, adding that money taken “out of Putin’s hands helps save lives in Ukraine”.

But Gazprom Neft denounced the sanctions as “groundless” and “absurd”, according to Russian government agencies.

Also on Friday, the US Treasury Department said it had sanctioned 183 ships that are “part of the shadow fleet and oil tankers of Russian naval operators”.