15 November 2023, Wednesday, 19:40 280

Denmark may block russian oil tankers' access to markets - media

Editor: Daria Zubkova

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Under new European Union plans, Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and blocking tankers carrying russian oil passing through its waters as part of Western efforts to impose oil price caps that the Kremlin has learned to avoid.

As European Pravda writes, The Financial Times reports this with reference to three sources familiar with the negotiations in Brussels.

Denmark will inspect tankers passing through its waters without Western insurance, they said, under laws that allow states to inspect vessels they deem to pose a threat to the environment.

"The key point is to ensure compliance with the insurance rules. Currently, this is done very unsystematically, and the coastal states have the right to see the evidence," said one of the interlocutors of the publication.

Officials say the requirement for adequate insurance from reputable firms is justified, given that many russian oil shipments are carried by a so-called "shadow fleet" of older vessels that are more likely to malfunction or spill oil that threatens a major environmental disaster.

Officials familiar with these plans indicate that their implementation depends on the ability of the Danish Navy to stop and inspect the tankers. There are also questions about what Copenhagen will do if the ship refuses to stop.

WP writes that the Pentagon could buy russian oil products despite the sanctions

All russian oil shipped via the Baltic Sea, which is about 60 percent of total oil exports by sea, crosses the narrow Danish straits on its way to international markets.

The proposal comes after Western officials admitted that "almost none" of russian oil exports were sold below the USD 60-a-barrel "ceiling" last month, 11 months after the G7 introduced the measure in response to a full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine.

The G7 limit requires Western ship insurers to cover only those russian cargoes for which oil has been sold for less than USD 60 per barrel. But more and more tankers carrying russian oil are suspected of carrying falsified financial statements or insurance from non-Western companies.

The EU is considering other measures as part of the new sanctions package, which should be formally discussed by EU member states this week. They include sanctions against shipping companies that sell their old vessels to the russian "shadow fleet", as well as against countries that allow these vessels to fly under their national flag.

It will be recalled that Moldova declared that they got rid of dependence on russian gas after reducing consumption after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the G7 countries and the European Union intend to ban the import of russian gas along the routes along which the aggressor state of russia has previously cut supplies.

In the summer, the European Union announced that it was able to overcome the energy dependence of the aggressor country of the russian federation thanks to the EU plan to reduce gas consumption.