Baltic Sea Faces Environmental Catastrophe: Sweden Alarmed by Russia's Dangerous Oil Fleet
Sweden's Foreign Minister warns of an imminent environmental disaster in the Baltic Sea and accuses Russia of violating all maritime rules and creating "environmental chaos" by using unseaworthy oil tankers, the Guardian reports.
Earlier, Tobias Billström called for new rules and enforcement mechanisms to prevent an environmental disaster from Russia's ageing and uninsured shadow fleet.
Around half of all Russian oil transported by sea passes through the Baltic Sea and Danish waters, often operating under opaque ownership and using international waters to avoid scrutiny and sanctions.
Russia's aging fleet generates huge revenues for the Russian war machine, bypassing Western sanctions that attempt to block access to insurance if Russia sells oil above $60 per barrel. In practice, only 20% of Russia's oil is sold below the price cap.
Two weeks ago, the foreign ministers of eight Scandinavian-Baltic countries met on the strategic island of Gotland to discuss how to deal with the Russian fleet.
"The fact that they are carrying oil that fuels Russia's aggression against Ukraine is bad enough. But what is even worse is that Russia apparently does not care a bit about the fact that these ships can cause serious environmental havoc in seas that are sensitive, if you look at the Baltic Sea," said Tobias Billström.
He stressed that every state that is a member of the International Maritime Organisation is responsible for complying with IMO rules and regulations and has the right to require the master of a ship deemed unseaworthy to take action before leaving port.
However, some Scandinavian countries fear Russia's reaction if they intervene, as it could reinforce Moscow's belief that the Baltic Sea is turning into a "NATO lake", cutting off Russia's access to the sea from St. Petersburg and other ports such as Kaliningrad.
International law allows ships to be intercepted if they fly the wrong flag, but some of the law is unclear. Billström agreed that NATO members can hardly risk being labelled as Houthis in the Red Sea, violating freedom of navigation.
The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, according to Billström, has changed the strategic situation in the Baltic Sea, as Russia is the only country with a Baltic coastline that is not a member of the military alliance. Sweden has already moved to strengthen the Swedish presence in Gotland.
"We want the US to be interested in what is happening in our part of the world. We should be interested in what is happening in their part of the world. We in Europe need to see how it is all interconnected," he said.