"Shadow fleet" under false flags. EU wants to impose sanctions on three firms - Bloomberg

The European Union has proposed to impose sanctions on three companies that provided false registration certificates under the flags of certain countries to tankers of Russia's "shadow fleet". This was reported by Bloomberg with reference to the relevant documents.

They say that these organizations have provided registration under the false flags of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten to at least eight sanctioned vessels.

At the same time, none of the three territories is listed in the so-called Paris Register of Official Flags, which means that they do not actually provide such services.

The restrictions may be included in the 19th package of EU sanctions against Russia, which is currently being discussed. It also includes restrictions on approximately 120 additional shadow fleet vessels (bringing the total number to over 560), as well as restrictions on several entities in third countries that allow Russia to trade energy resources.

• on September 22, The New York Times reported that Russia's "shadow fleet" currently has about 940 tankers, which is 17% of the world's total oil tanker fleet.
• On September 12, it became known that India's largest port operator has banned tankers from the "shadow fleet" of Russia.
• In 2024, a series of incidents occurred in the Baltic Sea, during which tankers damaged submarine cables.