{"id":1370424,"date":"2026-03-17T12:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/russian-tanker-drifts-in-mediterranean-after-drone-attack\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:54:43","slug":"russian-tanker-drifts-in-mediterranean-after-drone-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/russian-tanker-drifts-in-mediterranean-after-drone-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian tanker drifts in Mediterranean after drone attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian<\/span> liquefied<\/span> natural<\/span> gas<\/span> tanker<\/span> Arctic<\/span> Metagaz<\/span> is<\/span> drifting<\/span> in<\/span> the Mediterranean<\/span> Sea<\/span> after<\/span> a drone<\/span> attack<\/span> and<\/span> poses<\/span> an environmental<\/span> threat<\/span> to<\/span> EU<\/span> countries<\/span> .<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Reuters<\/span><\/a> reports<\/span> this<\/span> .<\/span><\/p>\n

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Italy,<\/span> France<\/span> and<\/span> seven<\/span> other<\/span> EU<\/span> countries<\/span> have<\/span> warned<\/span> the European<\/span> Commission<\/span> about<\/span> the<\/span> dangerous<\/span> condition<\/span> of the vessel,<\/span> which<\/span> they<\/span> say<\/span> is<\/span> in<\/span> the<\/span> waters<\/span> between<\/span> Malta<\/span> and<\/span> Italy<\/span> .<\/span><\/p>\n

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The<\/span> letter<\/span> notes<\/span> that<\/span> the situation<\/span> creates a “<\/span> double<\/span> challenge” –<\/span> for<\/span> maritime<\/span> safety<\/span> and<\/span> preventing<\/span> an environmental<\/span> disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

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

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The Russian<\/span> side<\/span> also<\/span> states<\/span> that<\/span> the responsibility<\/span> for<\/span> resolving<\/span> the situation<\/span> lies<\/span> with<\/span> the coastal<\/span> countries<\/span> in accordance<\/span> with<\/span> international<\/span> law.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Earlier,<\/span> the Russian<\/span> Ministry of Transport<\/span> reported<\/span> that<\/span> a tanker<\/span> that<\/span> left<\/span> the<\/span> port<\/span> of Murmansk<\/span> was<\/span> attacked by<\/span> naval<\/span> drones<\/span> off<\/span> the coast<\/span> of Libya.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Meanwhile,<\/span> Libya’s<\/span> maritime<\/span> agency<\/span> said<\/span> on March<\/span> 4<\/span> that<\/span> the ship<\/span> sank<\/span> after<\/span> a fire.<\/span> Ukraine<\/span> has not<\/span> confirmed<\/span> its involvement<\/span> in<\/span> the attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was previously reported that on March 11, unknown munitions hit three ships in the Strait of Hormuz area in the Middle East.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a reminder, US military forces conducted a naval operation to intercept the Veronica III vessel in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Also follow \u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , X<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> , and Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":1294742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76873],"class_list":["post-1370424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1370424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1294742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1370424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1370424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}