Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has called for more decisive action against Russia’s “shadow fleet” following another incident in which a submarine cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged.
“The shadow fleet is the main issue and the main problem we are dealing with, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing investigations related to these cables,” Valtonen said on Tuesday during a visit to the Latvian capital Riga.
“We have to limit its use,” she said about the so-called Russian shadow fleet. This refers to tankers and other cargo ships with opaque ownership structures that Russia uses to circumvent sanctions imposed as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, for example in the transport of oil.
Russia’s shadow fleet also “poses a risk to the environment and is a proven threat to critical undersea infrastructure,” Valtonen said.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on dozens of these ships, though the actual size of the fleet is likely to be much larger.
In recent weeks, suspected acts of sabotage by the Russian shadow fleet on cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have repeatedly caused problems. The damage is said to have been deliberately caused using ship anchors.
Most recently, an undersea cable running between Sweden and Latvia was damaged at the weekend. The cause is still unclear. Authorities in Stockholm are investigating possible serious sabotage and have seized a suspicious ship.
In December, damage was discovered on the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia, as well as on four communication cables, including a connection between Helsinki and Rostock that had already been severed in a previous incident in November.
The oil tanker Eagle S is suspected of having deliberately caused the damage on Christmas Day.
“It’s about deterrence, it’s about reacting at the right moment and quick restoration,” Valtonen emphasized.
