2,000 liters of oil spill: tanker belonging to the Russian “shadow fleet” detained in Sweden

The Swedish Coast Guard has detained a tanker off the coast of Ystad suspected of causing an oil spill in the Baltic Sea. The vessel is under European Union sanctions and, according to preliminary information, may belong to the Russian shadow fleet.

This is reported by the Sweden Herald .

The oil spill incident occurred east of the island of Gotland and was discovered on the morning of April 3. According to authorities, the suspect vessel is the tanker Flora 1, which is currently detained by the Swedish Coast Guard.

The agency’s spokesman, Matthias Lindholm, said that the vessel is on the European Union’s sanctions list and additional information is currently being collected.

“In connection with the identification of the vessel, we note that it is on the EU sanctions list. There is a lot of interesting information that we need to study,” said Matthias Lindholm.

He said at least 2,000 liters of oil had spilled into the sea. The ship is currently anchored south of Ystad, and no arrests have been made in the case.

Lindholm also drew attention to the uncertainty regarding the vessel’s flag and jurisdiction.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about the status of the flag and the state to which this vessel belongs, and that is of course interesting to us,” said Matthias Lindholm.

Sweden’s Minister of Civil Defense, Karl-Oskar Bolin, said the government was taking the incident seriously and stressed the risks associated with the Russian shadow fleet.

“The Russian shadow fleet, consisting of old, underinsured tankers that evade sanctions, poses a significant security and environmental threat,” said Karl-Oscar Bolin.

It was previously reported that the “shadow fleet” tanker Boracay, suspected of involvement in the launch of drones over Denmark, continued its movement towards the Suez Canal.

Recall that the tanker ALTURA was attacked in the Black Sea , which, according to the Turkish side, belongs to the so-called “shadow fleet” of Russia and was transporting oil.

The day before, US military forces conducted a naval operation to intercept the Veronica III vessel in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.

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