Despite the EU sanctions, tankers with Russian oil have been directly entering European ports for several weeks. Since July 2024 alone, about 15 tankers have arrived in Europe from Russian Baltic Sea ports, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported.
“Tankers with Russian oil have been directly entering EU ports for several weeks now. This was revealed by research by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, which documented the transmission of the “Mainz Report”. According to these studies, the ships were allegedly loading Russian crude oil and travelling from Russian ports in the Baltic Sea. According to GPS data, the ships were travelling directly to EU ports to transfer crude oil there,” the FAZ publication said.
The newspaper pointed out that this contradicts the current EU sanctions, since March 2023 the shipping of Russian oil to European countries is prohibited. According to FAZ, the shipments involved mainly Greek shipping companies, whose vessels partly belong to the so-called Russian “shadow fleet”.
“Since July 2024, about 15 tankers have been travelling directly to European ports from Russian Baltic ports at Primorsk and Ust-Luga, as well as from the oil port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea. Judging by the draught of the vessels, it was evident that the vessels entered the Russian oil ports fully loaded and with heavy cargoes. After arrival at the ports of destination, the draft of the tankers decreased by several metres. Evidence that the vessels were fully or partially emptied. Tankers with a length of about 250 metres can carry more than 150 million litres of crude oil each”, – summarised in the article.
Recall, earlier the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that Russia is going through a difficult period in Russian history. He emphasised that in the emerging conditions of the new world reality, “someone is striving” to preserve its fading hegemony through Russia.
