1y ago

‘Russia doesn’t care’: Sweden sounds alarm over unsafe oil fleet

www.theguardian.com

Foreign minister warns of environmental catastrophe in Baltic Sea as he accuses Moscow of using unseaworthy vessels

Russia appears prepared to create “environmental havoc” by sailing unseaworthy oil tankers through the Baltic Sea in breach of all maritime rules, the Swedish foreign minister has said.

Speaking to the Guardian during his first visit to London since Sweden became a Nato member, Tobias Billström called for new rules and enforcement mechanisms to prevent the ageing and uninsured Russian shadow fleet causing an environmental catastrophe. About half of all Russian oil transported by sea passes through the Baltic Sea and Danish waters, often operating under opaque ownership, and using international waters to try to avoid scrutiny.

The fleet generates a huge amount of revenue for Russia’s war machine, bypassing western sanctions that try to block access to insurance if Russia sells the oil above $60 a barrel. In practice as little as 20% of Russian oil is sold below the price cap.

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1y ago

"Russia doesn’t care": Sweden sounds alarm over environmental catastrophe in Baltic Sea, accusing Moscow of using unseaworthy vessels

www.theguardian.com /world/2024/apr/18/swedish-foreign-minister-tobias-billstrom-unsafe-russian-oil-fleet-baltic-sea-environmental-catastrophe

22 comments

Then those ships need to be confiscated & impounded. Russia is in a hybrid war with the West & it's time the West started acting like it.
- At the risk of starting a larger conflict. But agreed Russia will just keep doing whatever they want unless someone actually trys to stop them.
  
  At some point we neet to act even if we start a larger conflict, otherwise Russia will always win because we are too afraid to fight back. Also we need to show other asshole countries that they can't hide behind their weapons and do atrocties when ever they want.
- That kind of embargo is how Pearl Harbor got bombed but okay.
  
  Lol
Man, Russia is really quadrupling down on the villainy.
- People act like Russia is in somekind of a phase but they are behaving in such a evil way since decades now.
  
  I never implied that. Just pointing out the obvious.
I guess the idea is that if there's no guarantee the oil will make it to port, they can sell it at a much lower price?
Why not just stopping the ships from sailing through your waters on these grounds?
- They most likely didn't sail through our waters. It's international water. The only place where they would sail through ours or Danish waters would probably be Öresund.
  However, if I remember it correctly there's a treaty in place that allows ships to pass through.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Russia appears prepared to create “environmental havoc” by sailing unseaworthy oil tankers through the Baltic Sea in breach of all maritime rules, the Swedish foreign minister has said.
Speaking to the Guardian during his first visit to London since Sweden became a Nato member, Tobias Billström called for new rules and enforcement mechanisms to prevent the ageing and uninsured Russian shadow fleet causing an environmental catastrophe.
Foreign ministers from the eight Nordic-Baltic grouping of countries met on the strategic island of Gotland a fortnight ago to discuss how to tackle the Russian fleet.
He said every state that was a member of the International Maritime Organisation had a responsibility to uphold IMO rules and regulations, and had the right to ask the captain of a ship not deemed seaworthy to take action before leaving port.
The former UK armed forces minister James Heappey said he kept a copy of the Swedish civil defence manual on his desk as a model for what Britain should emulate.
Like all foreign ministers, he said he was wary of the implications of a Trump presidency had for Europe, Nato and Ukraine, but doubted the bulk of the Republican party had succumbed to pro-Russian propaganda.
The original article contains 1,000 words, the summary contains 200 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

22 comments