Vladimir Putin's 'dangerous' shadow fleet of uninsured ships 'causing havoc' in Baltic Sea

Russia's been slammed for causing " environmental havoc " in the Baltic Sea, with Sweden's foreign minister Tobias Billstrom sounding the alarm over "dangerous" ships. He's calling for tighter regulations and enforcement to stop Russia's shadowy fleet of unseaworthy tankers from sparking an ecological disaster.

Putin's turned to a so-called dark fleet of uninsured, old vessels to bypass Western sanctions on Russian oil. This fleet, numbering between 400 and 650 ships mostly oil tankers largely under the radar, with two-thirds lacking proper insurance.

Industry experts at SandP Global report that a whopping 98 percent of medium and large oil tankers are either high risk or have no identifiable owner, with many flying the flag of Gabon.

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Norway's tracking shows about 12 of these shady ships, usually laden with Russian oil, passing through its waters daily.

Billstrom didn't mince words when he highlighted the dual threat these tankers pose: not only do they fund Russia's aggression against Ukraine, but they also risk catastrophic environmental damage in already sensitive seas like the Baltic. "The fact that they are transporting oil, which fuels Russian aggression against Ukraine is bad enough," he declared to The Guardian, reports the Express .

"But even worse is the fact that Russia doesn't care one bit, apparently, about the fact that these ships could cause major environmental havoc in seas, which if you take the Baltic Sea is sensitive as it is."

The Kremlin has found a way to sidestep Western attempts to impose a $60 per barrel price cap on its oil, thanks to its fleet. Due to the terms of the cap, Russia is unable to secure maritime insurance for its vessels if it sells its oil at a higher rate.

However, the shadow fleet allows as much as 20 percent of Russian oil to be sold below the price cap. China is currently the main purchaser of Russian fossil fuels, with imports hitting a whopping $30 billion in 2023.

Interestingly, despite ceasing coal imports from Russia since August 2022, the EU remains the second largest consumer of the Kremlin's fossil fuels. In 2023, European countries imported $18.4 billion worth of fossil fuels, split between crude oil and natural gas at a ratio of 60/40.

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