EU should sanction entire shadow fleet, not just part of it - Lithuanian minister

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Monday that the European Union should impose sanctions on all vessels in Russia's so-called shadow fleet.

"It would certainly be a good decision to sanction the entire shadow fleet, because even with the increased number of ships in the 17th sanctions package, it's still not enough," Sakaliene told a press conference after meeting with Norway's defense minister in Vilnius.

"We're talking about a couple of hundred ships out of, apparently, a thousand vessels. That figure needs to increase," she said.

The EU's 17th package of sanctions, approved last week, includes restrictions on Russia's shadow fleet. The blacklist is to be expanded with around 200 oil tankers used to circumvent restrictions on Russian oil exports.

Previously, about 150 vessels had been sanctioned.

Last week, the Estonian Navy attempted to stop the tanker Jaguar, which is believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet.

However, the vessel carrying Russian oil defied orders and left Estonia's economic zone.

According to officials, the tanker was escorted by a Russian fighter jet, which briefly entered Estonian airspace for less than a minute.

"This situation shows that Russia is taking new steps. Based on what we saw in Estonia, (...) when a fighter jet was sent to intimidate and apparently carry out an information operation, (...) it shows the same trend: Russia is ramping up pressure. (...) Once again, Russia is testing boundaries, and these tests are becoming more aggressive," Sakaliene said.

In response to such incidents, NATO launched a new surveillance mission, called Baltic Sentry, in the Baltic Sea in January, aimed at preventing attacks on underwater infrastructure in the region.

"Baltic Sentry operates under its current mandate, which doesn't allow for additional action, and only individual nations can take certain actions. What we can do now includes intelligence, information sharing, and coordinating actions. Any move toward a broader mandate would require a separate level of discussion," Sakaliene said.

Last week, Lithuania, Norway and eight other European countries signed a memorandum of understanding on the protection of critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

The document calls for stepping up cooperation to enhance the resilience of seabed cables and pipelines, secure supply chains, conduct underwater monitoring and expand rapid repair capabilities.