ByTsvetana Paraskova– Mar 21, 2025, 7:00 AM CDT
Germany has seized an oil tanker of the Russian shadow fleet that was found adrift in the Baltic Sea in January, German magazine Spiegel reported on Friday, quoting security sources.
The tanker, Eventin, was traveling under the flag of Panama when German authorities said in January that the vessel, belonging to the Russian shadow fleet, was stuck in German waters in the Baltic Sea.
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The tanker had lost power and steering and was found adrift in the sea, north of the German island of Rügen.
Germany secured the vessel and blamed Russia for the use of a shadow fleet of tankers.
“Russia is endangering our European security not only with its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, but also with severed cables, displaced border buoys, disinformation campaigns, GPS jammers and, as we have seen, dilapidated oil tankers,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the time.
Two months after the incident was reported, Germany has now seized the tanker along with its cargo of about 100,000 tons of crude oil, Spiegel reports. The ship and the cargo, which is worth about $43 million (40 million euros), are now the property of Germany.
The tanker’s original route was to ship the oil from the Russian port of Ust-Luga through the Baltic Sea to Port Said in Egypt.
When found adrift in German waters, the tanker was towed to the waters off Sassnitz, due to an imminent danger of oil spill from the decrepit vessel. German coast guard and federal police have been monitoring the tanker since then, Spiegel reports.
Eventin was included in the latest EU sanctions against Russia at the end of February. The EU’s 16th sanctions package against Russia targeted 74 additional vessels, bringing the total number of sanctioned vessels to 153.
“These vessels are part of the shadow fleet or contributed to Russia’s energy revenues,” the EU said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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