SVT revealed yesterday that 52 of 56 vessels, which refueled from the vessel Zircone off Gotland, are on their way to or from Russia.
It is above all about oil tankers that are part of Russia’s shadow fleet of older environmentally dangerous ships used in the Russian oil trade.
Fears Russian oil
The Latvian company Fastbunkering states that operations outside Gotland are safe and that they follow the rules. But from the Latvian government’s side, it is open to the possibility that it could be Russian oil being sold from the ship, something the company previously denied.
– We are looking at this and we will have to dig into the details to understand the nuances, because unfortunately not everything is prohibited under EU sanctions rules, so we have to investigate whether it is just the sale of fuel or whether it is transfer of Russian oil, says the Deputy State Secretary, Andžejs Viļumsons.
He is on site on Gotland, where a meeting of foreign ministers in the Nordic-Baltic circle ends today.
– We always review these cases very carefully and at the same time my government is of the opinion that more could be done, and should be done, to limit trade with Russia. Because if you trade with them, this type of event will appear.
Want to impose restrictions
Tobias Billström stated on Tuesday that Sweden at the EU level will pursue the issue of limiting the shadow fleet’s ability to move in the Baltic Sea, and similar statements are made by other foreign ministers in Visby:
– We are worried and have to do something, but we have to figure out how to do it, because it is not enough that Estonia, Finland and Sweden do it, says Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
– We keep track of these ships and now we have to increase it as well. The risk of environmental accidents is there every day and especially in the Baltic Sea area it can be very serious if something happens, says Elina Valtonen, Finland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.