Research and data provided by Mark Douglas of the Starboard Maritime Intelligence reveal that a Russian warship accompanied two sanctioned Russian oil tankers in European waters. The Steregushchiy-class corvette Boyky, accompanied the tanker Sierra (Suvorovsky Prospekt) through the strait of Gibraltar, met with another tanker called Selva (also known as Nostos or Naxos) off the coast of Portugal and traveled together through the English channel to Russia to load oil.
The movements of the ships are dated as of the 16th of June. The tanker Selva is under UK sanctions while Sierra is sanctioned both by the UK and the EU. The tanker Selva was transmitting a signal describing itself as a Panamanian vessel but it changed its designated flag to Palau after the researcher published his findings.
Russia uses a shadow fleet of oil tankers which are regularly changing flags, captains and crews to trade oil under sanctions. Some of Russia’s major clients of its shadow fleet are China, and India followed by Turkey. Russia’s oil shadow fleet is also active in the Mediterranean.
The use of the Russian navy to escort its tankers through Europe follows two cases of Russian tankers that were confiscated in Europe earlier this year. These were the Eventin tanker, seized by Germany and the Kiwala tanker, seized by Estonia.
Newsroom
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