MEPs urge action against Russia’s 'phantom fleet,' calling for stricter checks, penalties, and a total ban on Russian fossil fuel imports to curb sanction evasion and safety risks.
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00:00It is one of the elusive weapons utilized by Russia to finance its war in Ukraine.
00:10Moscow is using a phantom fleet to evade Western sanctions and export its oil.
00:15In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the European Parliament calls on the EU to take action
00:20against these ships, which are often old and difficult to trace, and they pass through
00:25European waters.
00:31About 600 vessels of this so-called shadow fleet are operating, mainly in the Baltic
00:40Sea and the Black Sea.
00:43And this is the reason why they are doing this circumvention of the sanctions.
00:50And also this price cap, which was implemented on oil and gas, and Russia has invented such
00:59a way to circumvent those issues.
01:07This fleet makes it possible to circumvent the sanctions imposed by the European Union
01:11and the G7 in 2022, which provide for a ceiling of $60 per barrel.
01:18Thanks to these shadow ships, Russia is able to export 70% of its oil by sea.
01:24MEPs point out that this fleet represents a threat.
01:29To avoid detection by radar, Russian oil is transshipped between different vessels on
01:34the high seas, and the ships also deactivate their geolocation systems, all of which increase
01:40the risk of collision and oil spills.
01:45So we call for the European Commission and the Maritime Safety Agency, first of all,
01:49for reinforcements to tackle those vessels and make sure that all the sanctions are applied
01:53in all the territories in Europe.
01:55The second is to ban those dangerous ship-to-ship transfers, and then also to have extra funds
02:04for quick response capabilities, because every day, on every July, will cost the billions,
02:10and I'm talking about only, of course, the environment catastrophe.
02:15Russia is said to have invested around 9 billion Euros to develop this phantom fleet, which
02:21would mainly transport Russian oil from the Baltic and Black Seas to India, China, and
02:26Turkey.
02:28The oil would then be refined on site and could reach Europe without being subject to
02:32sanctions.