Europeans vow to get tougher on Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers as a sea drone hits one of them

A group of northern European countries vowed Thursday to harden the fight against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers exporting its sanctioned oil, as Turkish officials said that one of those tankers approaching the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus Strait was hit by a naval drone.

Russia’s shadow fleet is made up of aging tankers that are bought used, often by nontransparent entities with addresses in countries that are not sanctioning Russia. Moscow needs the vessels to dodge Western sanctions and sell the oil and petroleum products that largely finance its more than 4-year invasion of Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a meeting with allies in Finland that “we should go after the shadow fleet even harder.”

Speaking with other members of the Joint Expeditionary Force, a 10-country group that has been tracking the vessels, Starmer said the British military will now be able to board shadow fleet tankers when they transit U.K. waters, joining several other allies in doing so.

“Together, we must close off critical sea routes to this vital trade, to keep up the pressure on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and to help change the narrative of this war” in Ukraine, Starmer said.

In a recorded video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia’s oil and gas exports are fueling Moscow’s effort to take over Ukraine.

“So please keep the pressure on Russia — its tankers and shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters,” he said.

In Turkey, officials said that none of the 27 Turkish crew members of the Altura tanker was injured when it was attacked early Thursday, causing damage to the bridge and engine room.

The Altura, which reportedly was carrying 140,000 tonnes of crude oil when it was hit some 14 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus, has been owned by Turkey-based Pergamon Maritime since November.

The tanker has been subject to European Union sanctions since October due to its role in transporting sanctions-dodging Russian oil exports, according to the Open Sanctions website.

Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the tanker was subjected to an “attack by an unmanned sea vessel.” He did not say whether Ukraine was suspected to be behind the attack.

In the past, Ukraine’s military has said it used sea drones to sink Russian vessels in the Black Sea. Earlier this month Russia blamed a Ukrainian naval drone for the sinking of a Russian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya.

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