Europa per dare la caccia alla flotta ombra malata di Putin

By Brendan Cole – Senior News Reporter:

European countries are considering seizing Russian oil tankers in the Baltic Sea following incidents involving Moscow’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet.”

Legislation is being drafted to allow the legal seizure of the ships on environmental or piracy grounds, according to Politico, citing European Union diplomats and government officials.

Read more: [https://www.newsweek.com/shadow-fleet-russia-oil-baltic-2028711](https://www.newsweek.com/shadow-fleet-russia-oil-baltic-2028711)

Yeah, wake me up when they actually do something that matters.

It’s about time.

European countries are considering seizing Russian oil tankers in the Baltic Sea following incidents involving Moscow’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet.”

Legislation is being drafted to allow the legal seizure of the ships on environmental or piracy grounds, according to Politico, citing [European U](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/eu)nion diplomats and government officials.

There have been incidents such as a undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia being damaged in December in suspected sabotage. And Helsinki said Monday that it was preparing for a potential oil spill in the Gulf of Finland following an explosion on a tanker in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region.

*Newsweek* has contacted the EU and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

# Why It Matters

Moscow set up the shadow fleet to circumvent G7 and EU-led sanctions on Russian seaborne oil, which imposed a $60-a-barrel cap aimed at curbing energy revenues for the country’s energy exports.

Russia has continued to transport the commodity via an aging fleet whose links to Moscow are hidden, often through shell companies. The EU has been struggling to clamp down on the Russian vessels, which not only allow Moscow to earn export revenues but pose a significant environmental threat.

# What To Know

European countries are holding talks on how to seize Moscow’s oil-exporting tankers in the Baltic Sea, according to Politico.

Among proposals include legislation to seize vessels on environmental or piracy grounds, as well as national laws that would allow the countries themselves to go after Russian vessels further out at sea.

Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna told Politico that 50 percent of Russia’s sanctioned oil is transiting the Gulf of Finland as he noted attacks on undersea infrastructure.

In December, [Finnish authorities seized](https://www.newsweek.com/map-nato-lake-baltic-undersea-cables-sabotage-finland-estonia-2006105) the *Eagle S* ship, which was carrying 100,000 barrels of oil from St. Petersburg, suspecting it had sabotaged a subsea power link connecting Estonia to Finland.

Other incidents involving Russian vessels have sparked alarm. On December 15, 2024, two Russian oil tankers, [*Volgoneft-212* and *Volgoneft-239*,](https://www.newsweek.com/russian-tanker-split-oil-spill-disaster-2002158) sank in the Kerch Strait, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, off the coast of Crimea, prompting fears of an ecological disaster.

On Monday, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that his country had increased its oil spill response readiness following an explosion in the engine room of the tanker *Koala* [at the port of Ust-Luga, west of St. Petersburg](https://www.newsweek.com/explosions-russia-shadow-fleet-ust-luga-2028636).