FT: Denmark could block tankers carrying Russian oil in its waters

The European Union could task Denmark with inspecting tankers carrying Russian oil in its waters and potentially blocking them. According to three unnamed sources cited by the paper Financial Times (FT), the issue is currently being debated in Brussels. The newspaper says this is another effort to curb Russian oil sales on Western markets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the British newspaper’s report by urging the European Union and Denmark to comply with international maritime rules.

Specifically, Denmark could inspect vessels in the Danish straits that lack Western insurance. This would be done under laws that allow vessels to be inspected if there is reason to suspect they could pose an environmental threat. Around 60 percent of ships carrying Russian oil across the Baltic Sea pass through the Danish straits.

Moscow has recently found ways to circumvent the price cap on Russian oil transported by sea. The EU, Australia and the G7 group of advanced economies imposed a maximum price of 60 dollars per barrel for this oil last December in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Western insurance companies are supposed to provide insurance only to carriers that comply with the price cap. However, there are suspicions that an increasing number of tankers carrying Russian oil have falsified financial records or are sailing without the required Western insurance. Western officials told the Financial Times that last month „almost no“ barrels of Russian oil transported by sea were sold for less than 60 dollars.

Russian presidential spokesman Peskov told journalists today, according to the TASS news agency, that Moscow has so far received no information about such a plan. „But everyone needs to be warned in advance about the need to comply with all the rules of international commercial shipping,“ Peskov said.