A Swedish court has ordered the arrest of the captain of a ship sailing under a fake flag and believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, the BBC reports.
The captain, a Russian citizen, appeared before Swedish prosecutors on the 13th of March on suspicion of using forged documents. The Swedish coast guard boarded the Sea Owl One while it was in Swedish territorial waters. The ship was flying the flag of the Comoros Islands and the 228-meter tanker is on the European Union’s sanctions list.
Moscow relies heavily on its shadow fleet – tankers with unclear ownership and insurance – to evade Western sanctions. They were imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow’s shadow fleet is accused not only of circumventing sanctions – its ships also falsify movement data, sabotage underwater cables and launch drones.
The Sea Owl One was en route from Santos in Brazil to the Russian Baltic port of Primorsk. The Swedish Coast Guard reported that the ship had transported oil between Russia and Brazil in recent years.
On the evening of the 12th of Marrch, the Coast Guard seized the ship when it was south of Trelleborg.
The decision to stop the Sea Owl One was made because it was suspected that it was not included in the shipping register of the Comoros Islands, under whose flag it sailed, thus violating international law. Suspicions were reinforced by the fact that the captain presented documents that appeared to be forged.
The Russian Embassy in Sweden reported that 10 of the 24 crew members of the detained ship are Russian citizens, while the rest are Indonesian citizens. The embassy is closely monitoring the situation.
This is the second time this week that Swedish authorities have seized a ship believed to be part of the shadow fleet. On the 6th of March, the Coast Guard seized the Guinean-flagged Caffa, which was en route from Casablanca, Morocco, to St. Petersburg, Russia, for similar reasons. It is also currently anchored near Trelleborg.
Several Russian shadow fleet ships have been seized by France in recent months, including the Boracay in October and the GRINCH in January.
Read also: France releases alleged shadow fleet ship; substantial fine paid
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