{"id":2325,"date":"2025-02-10T09:39:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T10:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/?p=2325"},"modified":"2025-02-10T12:28:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T12:28:51","slug":"eu-nations-aim-to-seize-alleged-russian-shadow-fleet-vessels-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/10\/eu-nations-aim-to-seize-alleged-russian-shadow-fleet-vessels-politico\/","title":{"rendered":"EU nations aim to seize alleged \u2018Russian shadow fleet\u2019 vessels \u2013 Politico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cargo ships could reportedly be impounded on grounds of supposed piracy and the threat of environmental incidents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several EU members are considering strengthening the legal framework for seizing ships in the Baltic Sea with the aim of undermining Russian trade, Politico reported on Monday, citing insiders. Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are allegedly seeking to target vessels on environmental and piracy grounds.<\/p>\n

Western nations, which have been seeking to find ways to curb Russian energy exports, have accused Moscow of employing a \u201cshadow fleet\u201d<\/em> to evade sanctions. In recent months, officials have also accused Moscow of sabotaging undersea cables in the Baltic, though no evidence<\/a> has been provided to substantiate these allegations.<\/p>\n

According to Politico\u2019s sources, the four states intend to seize suspected shadow fleet ships based on the alleged threat they pose to the environment and to infrastructure, and are seeking EU backing for the initiative. They could amend national legislation to \u201cmake it easier to grab ships further out at sea,\u201d<\/em> including by mandating a list of insurers for maritime operations in the Baltic. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told the news outlet that there are \u201clots of opportunities\u201d<\/em> for enforcing trade restrictions against Russia.<\/p>\n

Last December, Finland seized the tanker ‘Eagle S’ amid an investigation into the damage to the Estlink 2 power cable. The vessel remains impounded despite the Finnish authorities reportedly finding no evidence of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
Moscow slams West for \u2018fantastic hypocrisy\u2019<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Conversely, a Norwegian cargo ship with an all-Russian crew was released in late January after Norwegian police concluded there were no grounds to continue its detention. The Latvian authorities had requested the seizure of the Silver Dania over an incident involving an optic cable owned by the national broadcaster LVRTC earlier the same month.<\/p>\n

Moscow has accused Western nations of peddling a false narrative that frames routine accidents as evidence of a Russian sabotage campaign. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has criticized purveyors for \u201cfantastic hypocrisy,\u201d<\/em> citing the lack of findings in European inquiries into the September 2022 destruction of Nord Stream gas pipelines.<\/p>\n

The \u201cnon-investigation\u201d<\/em> of that incident suggests that EU nations deem Joe Biden\u2019s threat against Russian-German infrastructure \u201cproper,\u201d<\/em> Zakharova said last month, referring to remarks made by the then-US president months before the attack.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>NATO claims Russia plotted to kill EU weapons giant boss
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

President Vladimir Putin has characterized Western sanctions as tools of non-economic pressure wielded by countries unable to compete with Russia on an equal footing. He views them as a challenge to make the national economy better.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo blackmail or attempts to impose anything on us will ever yield results. Russia is confident in its rightness and strength,\u201d<\/em> he said in a recent speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cargo ships could reportedly be impounded on grounds of supposed piracy and the threat of environmental incidents Several EU members are considering strengthening the legal framework for seizing ships in the Baltic Sea with the aim of undermining Russian trade, Politico reported on Monday, citing insiders. Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are allegedly seeking to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2325"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2329,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325\/revisions\/2329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}