44 European countries have approved a plan during a meeting of the European political community, organized in Great Britain. It calls for sanctions on the so-called dark fleet of Russian oil tankers. ΠUK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to seize a fleet of oil tankers used to circumvent international sanctions, Bloomberg reported.
The joint actions are aimed at disrupting the operation of a fleet of around 600 ships, which Western countries say are being used by Moscow to transport around 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, according to a statement published this week by Dunning Street.
The oil tanker fleet is used to finance Russia's military machine and also poses an environmental threat to Europe's waterways, the UK statement said. Some of the ships act as Russian spy stations and transport weapons to Russia.
ΠThe UK government has announced sanctions against 11 tankers it says were used to transport Russian oil.
Eight of the 11 tankers sanctioned by the UK are owned by the Russian state Sossomflot, while the other three bear the distinctive markings of ships from the Dark Fleet, according to an updated list of sanctions.
Dozens of oil tankers are currently under sanctions by the US, UK or European Union authorities. Of the 11, two have already been marked by the EC. The measures taken so far have led to the cessation of the collection of cargo from the majority of the tankers in question.