Russian tanker drifts in Mediterranean after drone attack

The Russian liquefied natural gas tanker Arctic Metagaz is drifting in the Mediterranean Sea after a drone attack and poses an environmental threat to EU countries .

Reuters reports this .

Italy, France and seven other EU countries have warned the European Commission about the dangerous condition of the vessel, which they say is in the waters between Malta and Italy .

The letter notes that the situation creates a “ double challenge” – for maritime safety and preventing an environmental disaster.

“ The dangerous condition of the vessel… creates an immediate and serious threat of a major environmental disaster in the heart of the EU’s maritime space ,” the document says .

The European Union also indicates that the tanker belongs to the Russian “ shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions. At the same time, any actions to stabilize the situation could jeopardize the effectiveness of the sanctions policy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the ship was drifting and said that further action would depend on “ specific circumstances.” According to spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the tanker was carrying about 700 tons of fuel and significant amounts of LNG, and there was no crew on board .

The Russian side also states that the responsibility for resolving the situation lies with the coastal countries in accordance with international law.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Transport reported that a tanker that left the port of Murmansk was attacked by naval drones off the coast of Libya.

Meanwhile, Libya’s maritime agency said on March 4 that the ship sank after a fire. Ukraine has not confirmed its involvement in the attack.

It was previously reported that on March 11, unknown munitions hit three ships in the Strait of Hormuz area in the Middle East.

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