Agency Report –
The stricken tanker Eventin, loaded with 99,000 tons of oil, was being held in place about five kilometres off the coast by two tugboats on Sunday.
The vessel will remain there until a decision is made on next steps, a spokesperson for Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME) said. The ship is watertight and poses no danger to the environment, the CCME added.
The Eventin, which was built in 2006 and is sailing under a Panamanian flag, was en route from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Egypt’s Port Said, according to the ship tracking platform Vesselfinder.
The Eventin suffered an engine failure on Friday and was drifting in the Baltic Sea before being secured, according to CCME.
The cause of the engine failure remained initially unclear.
The ship is part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” used to export oil despite heavy sanctions on the country, according to a list of Russian-linked vessels compiled by the environmental advocacy organization Greenpeace.
The European Union, the US and Britain have imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil industry in response to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, aiming to restrict funding for the war.
Ships in the “shadow fleet” are often outdated and in poor operating condition.
On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock blamed Russia for risking European security “with the reckless deployment of a fleet of rusty tankers” to bypass sanctions.
Moscow has not yet commented on the incident.
The Baltic Sea is one of the most heavily travelled seas in the world.
According to the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, more than 2,000 ships travel through the inland sea every day.
By dpa correspondents
