Kaja Kallas: European Forces Intercept Russia-Linked Oil Tanker in Mediterranean

A European naval mission boarded a Russia-linked oil tanker this week in the Mediterranean Sea, suspected of sailing under a false flag, according to EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas. Personnel operating under Operation EUNAVFOR MED IRINI boarded the MV South Star on Monday for “flag verification,” Kallas wrote in a post on X.

Kallas stated that the EU is “turning up the pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet,” referring to vessels with opaque ownership used to skirt Western sanctions against Russia. The EU’s naval force mission confirmed its crew boarded the sanctioned tanker in international waters. The vessel, sailing under the flag of Cameroon, was located in the West Mediterranean as of Wednesday afternoon.

EU member states have also authorized the bloc’s naval mission off the coast of Somalia and the western Indian Ocean to conduct similar flag verification boardings of suspected Russian “shadow fleet” vessels. Brussels has sanctioned nearly 600 ships suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” network.