The Russian “shadow fleet“, which is used to circumvent Western sanctions by transshipment of oil between ships on the high seas, has oriented itself to new areas for its activities in the Aegean Sea, the Greek publication “Proto Thema“ reports in a report, quoted by BTA.
The new “havens“ for the activities of tankers carrying Russian oil are located in the northeastern Aegean Sea and more specifically in the triangle between the islands of Chios, Samothrace and Limnos.
The practice of transshipment of oil from ship to ship (Ship-To-Ship - STS) intensified after the first EU sanctions against Russia in February 2023. At that time, fuel traders began to look for alternative routes to continue exporting Russian oil to Turkey, Brazil, India, China and Africa. One of the first “hot spots“ was the Laconian Gulf south of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula, where dozens of tankers were waiting to be transshipped, attracted by its strategic proximity to Russian Black Sea ports and the Suez Canal.
However, the situation changed when the Greek Navy began to restrict access to the area with the announcement of successive military exercises. As a result, the transshipment of the "shadow fleet" ships shifted - first south of the islands of Chios and Ikaria, and later to alternative areas of the Mediterranean such as Malta, Port Said, Sicily and Morocco.
Nevertheless, the Aegean Sea remains a preferred area for the "shadow fleet" and recently it has been actively returning, this time off Samothrace and Limnos.
A government official told “Proto Thema“ that the authorities are monitoring the movements of the “shadow fleet“ ships, but if they are in international waters, they cannot intervene.
While the waters of the Laconian Gulf are usually calm, the northeastern Aegean Sea often has winds of up to force eight on the Beaufort scale, which is why there is “a very serious risk of an incident with huge environmental consequences“, the source said, summarizing: “The Aegean Sea will be filled with oil“.