Greenpeace Warns of Environmental Risks Posed by Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' in the Mediterranean

The fleet, linked to oil smuggling and sanctions evasion, raises concerns over potential oil spills, sabotage, and environmental damage near Italy's coast.

• Greenpeace has highlighted significant environmental risks posed by Russia's 'shadow fleet,' which operates in the Mediterranean and other regions to evade international sanctions.
• The fleet consists of aging, underinsured tankers with poor safety standards, which conduct risky ship-to-ship oil transfers to obscure the origin of Russian oil.
• These operations, particularly near Sicily, threaten marine protected areas, coastal ecosystems, and seabird breeding grounds, with a high risk of oil spills.
• The fleet has also been implicated in espionage and sabotage activities, including damage to undersea cables and suspected involvement in smuggling Libyan oil to Europe.
• Greenpeace criticized Italian authorities for insufficient enforcement of EU sanctions, allowing sanctioned ships to dock and operate near Italian ports with minimal oversight.

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