Russian 'shadow fleet' to be boarded or sanctioned if it refuses to prove insurance

By Andrius Sytas

TALLINN (Reuters) - Vessels of Russia's so-called shadow tanker fleet will be boarded or put on a sanctions list if they do not provide proof of insurance, Estonia's prime minister said on Tuesday.

'Shadow fleet' refers to vessels used by Russia to move oil, arms and grains around in violation of international sanctions imposed on it over the Ukraine war. The vessels are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.

A dozen Western countries - Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, five Nordic nations and the three Baltic states - agreed on Monday to "disrupt and deter" Russia's shadow fleet.

Six of them - Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland and Estonia - will begin checking insurance documents of vessels in the Channel, the Danish straits, the Gulf of Finland and the strait between Sweden and Denmark.

"If the ships do not cooperate, next steps will be taken: they will be put on a list for prohibition, or they will be boarded in certain areas," Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told reporters in Tallinn.

"The main thing is to do this systematically, to disrupt Russia's shadow fleet", said Michal, speaking at the end of the two-day gathering of the leaders of the military Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) grouping, which includes most of the 12 countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy cheered the move.

"Aside from generating enormous profits for Russia's war machine and funding war crimes against Ukrainians, these ageing oil tankers pose a serious environmental threat to the Baltic and Northern Seas' coastal states," he said on X.

Russia rejects Western pressure to limit its oil exports and in the past year the number of tankers transporting cargoes that are not regulated or insured by Western providers has grown.

'RIGHT OF SUSPICION'

Britain on Tuesday sanctioned 20 ships, prohibiting their entry to some of its ports and saying they were using illicit practices to avoid sanctions. The EU has also sanctioned 52 new vessels from the shadow fleet, bringing the total to 79.

The leaders meeting in Tallinn said there was a limit to how much they can affect the shadow fleet, due to international law granting significant freedom for ships to sail uninterrupted in international waters.

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said coastal states could invoke "the right of suspicion" as a pretext to board and inspect vessels.

"There are rules to be followed here, but I believe we need to cooperate, to see how we can strengthen those rules and regulations to limit and restrict this very dangerous phenomenon", he told reporters on Tuesday.

One shadow fleet vessel broke in half and another ran aground during a storm in the Black Sea on Sunday, spilling oil. Both tankers were over 50 years old.

"We are firmly behind the international order of freedom of navigation, so there are obvious limitations", said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

"But there are also limitations in what we can accept Russia doing. So the steps we are taking right now are necessary", he added.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas; Editing by Gareth Jones)