Russia has long been accused of relying on ships that are not in the hands of Western shipping companies or insured by Western insurance companies in order to circumvent a Western price cap for Russian oil exports to third countries. According to experts, there are major risks for shipping and the environment. For example, they point out that many tankers are outdated, have technical defects and are sometimes traveling without an automatic identification system. Baltic Sea neighbors like Sweden have been calling for tougher action against the ship owners, operators and insurance companies involved for months.
At the beginning of the week, Great Britain moved forward with new punitive measures against the Russian “shadow fleet” and added 30 ships to its sanctions list. According to the EU Commission's plans, there could even be around 50 in the EU. For example, they would no longer be allowed to enter ports in EU countries. The EU had already listed more than two dozen ships in June.
