Oil’s not well: EU targets Russia’s rogue tankers.
Starboard side frontal view of an LNG tanker.
Credit: Shutterstock, Tommy Chia SG
Brussels is gunning for Russia’s dodgy ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers smuggling oil under the radar, in a bold move to plug the leaks in EU sanctions.
Members of the European Parliament have sounded the alarm over Moscow’s murky manoeuvres, using rust-bucket ships with sketchy ownership and no insurance to sneak out crude oil and petrol products, thumbing their noses at international sanctions.
These sea-going scoundrels not only bankroll Putin’s war machine in Ukraine but also risk catastrophic environmental disasters with substandard vessels – think massive oil spills that could leave our coastlines in slick trouble.
In a hard-hitting resolution adopted yesterday, November 14, the European Parliament called for the next round of sanctions to include ‘all individual ships as well as their owners, operators, managers, accounts, banks and insurance companies’ involved with the ‘shadow fleet’.
MEPs are urging member states to step up their game, sanctioning vessels sailing through EU waters without known insurance. They’re pushing for beefed-up surveillance in the form of drones, satellites, and the like, to keep tabs on these nautical nuisances and for targeted inspections to reel them in.
Ports capable of handling these sneaky ships carrying crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) should be designated, say MEPs, so authorities can seize illegal cargo without compensation.
But it doesn’t stop there. The resolution calls on G7 countries to better enforce the price cap on Russian seaborne oil, to “substantially decrease the oil price cap and to crack down on the loopholes used by Russia to repackage and sell its oil and oil products at market prices,” according to the official press release by the European Parliament.
In a bold message, the MEPs stress that the EU’s ongoing import of Russian fossil fuels is undermining both the impact of existing sanctions and the financial and military support provided to Ukraine. They urge the EU and its members to ban all imports of Russian fossil fuels, including LNG.
It’s high tide, they say, to get serious about enforcing sanctions and to rethink ties with countries helping Russia dodge the rules.
The message is clear: the European Parliament says it won’t stand by while Russia plays fast and loose on the high seas, funding its war against Ukraine. They argue that it’s time to sink the ‘shadow fleet’ and chart a course towards a future free from Russian fossil fuels.
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