Arctic Metagaz. Photo: Newsbook Malta
Italy, France, and other EU members have urged swift coordinated action to deal with the damaged Russian vessel currently drifting between Italy and Malta, The Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
In a joint letter to EU Commission President Ursula Von De Leyen, signed by 9 EU members, the states called for collective action to prevent a ”major ecological disaster”, with two weeks having now passed since the ship was attacked. According to the letter, the ship, which is currently drifting between Malta and the Southern Italian island of Lampedusa, is in a “precarious condition” and poses an imminent risk.
Additionally, in the letter, the states emphasised the need to crack down further on Russia’s shadow fleet, the group of ships with opaque ownership structures being used by Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions and continue exporting its natural resources in the global market.
Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, a ship carrying 450 tons of diesel and liquefied natural gas, was struck by drones in the Mediterranean on 3 March, an incident Moscow blamed on Ukrainian forces, but which the Ukrainian side is yet to confirm.
In December, Ukrainian forces struck Russian tanker QENDIL2 in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Crete. The tanker was not carrying cargo at the time, and so, Ukrainian forces said that the strike did not threaten environmental conditions in the area.
