Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The European Union must sanction all ships involved in the Russian shadow fleet. This came in a statement issued by members of the Socialist and Democratic Party group in the European Parliament, a copy of which we received on Thursday morning, which also stated: “To strengthen sanctions against Russia, the Socialists and Democrats will support the European Parliament’s call for strong EU action against the Russian shadow fleet. This network of up to 600 ships, often uninsured and unsafe, transports Russian oil around the world, enabling Russia to circumvent EU sanctions and providing a crucial financial lifeline for Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine. In addition, the lack of safety and insurance, coupled with ship-to-ship oil transfers in open waters, puts the world at risk of a major environmental disaster.
The European Parliament resolution, which will be voted on later today, calls for targeted sanctions on the shadow fleet in the upcoming European sanctions package against Russia, including blacklisting all individual ships involved, as well as their owners, operators, managers, banks and insurance companies. It also calls for an immediate ban on the use of Western vessels to transport Russian oil, and a reassessment of EU cooperation with non-EU countries that help Russia circumvent sanctions.

“This is essential to ensure the effectiveness of EU efforts to prevent Russia from intensifying its war of aggression against Ukraine this winter,” said Rafael Glucksmann, a Social Democratic MEP who negotiated the resolution.

“Russia’s shadow fleet is an army of old and highly unproven vessels that enable Russia to evade EU sanctions on fossil fuels. Moscow has invested billions of euros in building this fleet, which enables Moscow to continue to fuel its war machine against Ukraine with billions in energy revenues in violation of EU sanctions.

“And there’s more: these unsafe vessels transiting European waters pose an imminent and high threat to the environment. They put us all at grave risk.

“Action must be taken immediately. We demand EU sanctions on all shadow fleet vessels and a ban on European vessels transporting Russian oil. “A much higher cost should be imposed on non-EU countries complicit in circumventing EU sanctions against Russia, such as China, India and Turkey, for their support of Russia’s war!” The Socialist and Democratic Party (SDP) is the second largest political group in the European Parliament.