Russia will defend ships flying its flag

The statement is directly related to the detention of the tanker Grinch by France on Wednesday, January 28. The detention took place at the port of Marseille-Fos. The ship is suspected of sailing under a false flag as part of the Russian shadow fleet. These are ships transporting Russian oil in violation of sanctions imposed on Moscow.

The Russian side denies it. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected any allegations regarding the origin of the ship. She assured that the vessel is registered in the Marshall Islands and that the crew consists of Indian citizens. In early January, the ship departed from the Russian port of Murmansk.

At the beginning of January, two Russian vessels belonging to the shadow fleet were detained. The detentions were carried out by American forces. „These were the Mariner tanker (formerly named Bella 1), which was stopped near Iceland, and the Sophia, detained in the Caribbean Sea,” - PAP reports. The Russian side considered these actions a violation of existing maritime law. A similar situation occurred on January 27, when a shadow fleet vessel was being escorted to Morocco by a Spanish rescue ship. The ship was flying the Mozambican flag when its engine broke down in international waters within the Spanish search-and-rescue zone.

This highlights an important problem related to the Russian shadow fleet. Tankers used in oil transport are outdated, lack proper certifications and inspections, primarily to avoid detection. Such vessels pose a high environmental hazard. Although ships belonging to the shadow fleet are seized by Western countries, the problem clearly does not go away as new ones keep appearing.