Germany seized a tanker believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet off its Baltic coast following a string of sabotage attacks and illegal shipping.
The Panama-flagged ship, called Eventin, was secured by German maritime authorities after being found off the island of Rügen.
The confiscation order means the vessel and its cargo of around 100,000 metric tons of oil, worth some 40 million euros ($43.33 million), now become German property, German newspaper Spiegel reported.
The Kremlin said it had no information about the ship and no knowledge about its owner, according to Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ refers to a growing armada of ageing, uninsured vessels used by Russia to move oil, arms and grains around in violation of sanctions, helping to feed its war machine.
The tanker, which had been travelling from Russia to Egypt, also sparked environmental concerns over a potential oil spill.
Eventin was included in the EU’s 16th package of sanctions targeting Russia for invasion of Ukraine and trying to put extra pressure on its ghost fleet.
In recent months, Russian ships have been accused of carrying out sabotage operations in the Baltic Sea, including severing undersea cables.
This week, it emerged that a ship linked to Russia’s shadow fleet was seen dropping an anchor close to an undersea cable in Irish waters earlier this year. It is not clear if the ship was intentionally targeting the cable before it was ordered to leave the area.
Moscow’s ships have also increasingly been spotted in the English Channel.
Earlier this week, one of the largest convoys of Russian warships entered British and French territorial waters since the start of the Ukraine war.
Eventin was included in the European Union’s 16th package of sanctions targeting Russia for its invasion of Ukraine
Two Royal Navy warships shadowed the Russian destroyer RFN Severomorsk, landing ship RFN Alexander Shabalin and two transport ships, through the English Channel and North Sea.
Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset and minehunter HMS Cattistock, supported by RFA Tidesurge and naval helicopters, were involved in the operation to follow the vessels as they returned from Syria.
“Russia should be in no doubt that the UK will defend our waters,” Luke Pollard, the defence minister, said on Wednesday.
The operation was the third time in six weeks that the Royal Navy has shadowed Russian task groups returning from Syria.
