A hundred tankers are located daily in the Gulf of Finland. Some of them are on their way to or from ports in Finland or Estonia, but tens of them belong to the Russian so-called shadow fleet – old oil tankers that Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions.
During a week, Svenska Yle has registered 31 vessels that are on the EU's list of vessels that circumvent sanctions against Russia.
It sounds like damn many, says Isaac Levi at the think tank Crea (Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air), an independent research institute that studies, among other things, the effects of the EU's sanction system against the Russian energy sector, to Yle.
Most of the vessels transport crude oil, while others are loaded with oil products such as petrol and diesel.
Many of the vessels are old, the oldest 34 years. Only six of the vessels are younger than 15 years.
According to Isaac Levi, the EU should become even tougher on Russia, since the country finances its military by selling oil and gas that is transported with old and hazardous vessels.
Moreover, the risks of an environmental disaster are imminent, so the EU must now be brave and take control of these vessels.
