These ships carry large volumes of Russian oil and petroleum products from Russian ports in the Baltics, generating revenue that helps finance the war in Ukraine.
Security analysts say Russia is operating hundreds of vessels to get around the sanctions imposed on its oil exports over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The US has rejected a Canadian proposal to establish a task force that would tackle Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers, as the Trump administration re-evaluates its positions across multilateral organizations, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Navy, together with the developers of maritime drones, is working to create forces and means that will protect Ukrainian waters from the threat of maritime drones.
Three oil tankers have been damaged by blasts in the last month in separate incidents around the Mediterranean, with the causes unknown, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday.
Russia assembled a fleet of about 700 ships to help keep its oil moving in the face of western sanctions, but many operate with opaque ownership structures, calling safety standards into question.
The Joint Mine Countermeasures Force of Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria will not be considered a NATO operation, but will be the first major joint action by the Black Sea Allies since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Finnish authorities on Thursday seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.
