Finland fears an environmental disaster due to Russian oil

The threat of a large-scale oil spill in the Baltic Sea is growing as Russia has deployed a fleet of hundreds of "ghost tankers" to sell oil to circumvent sanctions.

The head of the maritime security department of the Border Service of Finland Mikko Simola told the AFP news agency about this the day before, Deutsche Welle reports.

According to him, 70 old-style ships with 100 000 tons of crude oil pass through the Gulf of Finland every week. Simola added that the flights of such tankers even increased after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Finnish border service, the tankers sail under the flags of Cameroon, Gabon, Djibouti, Palau or Belize. Border guards say that such vessels have never been seen before. These countries are probably not familiar with swimming in the icy conditions of the northern countries, which increases the risk of an "oil plague" — a large-scale environmental disaster caused by an oil spill.

According to experts, old ships without clear affiliation to a certain state and insurance allow Russia to export oil on a significant scale, despite the sanctions.

• Russia still remains one of the worldʼs largest energy exporters, despite Western sanctions on its oil and gas sector. At the end of last year, it was reported that Russiaʼs monthly income from oil exports is now greater than it was before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In October 2023, net income from Russian oil reached $11.3 billion, which is 31% of the total income of the Russian budget for the month. This is a record figure since May 2022.