Casus Belli: Denmark, Sweden and Finland raise the issue of blocking the Gulf of Finland to Russian tankers

/Pogled.info/ Denmark, Sweden and Finland threaten to limit Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea

Denmark, Sweden and Finland want to block Russian tankers from passing through the Gulf of Finland to the Baltic Sea because of their “unrecognized” insurance.

Russia is accused of wanting to create an environmental disaster

In early April, the foreign ministers of the eight Nordic countries met on the Swedish island of Gotland to discuss how to “fight the Russian fleet”, reports Splash247.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström stated that Russia is “prepared to create ‘environmental chaos’ by sailing ‘unseaworthy oil tankers across the Baltic Sea in violation of all maritime regulations’.” In his opinion, Russia even wants to “aging and uninsured Russian ‘shadow fleet’ to cause environmental catastrophe”.

“The risk of environmental catastrophes exists every day and especially in the Baltic Sea region it could be very serious if something were to happen.” said Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen.

How NATO will fight the Russian fleet

“The Baltic Sea is becoming NATO’s internal lake.” said Latvian foreign minister and candidate for NATO chief Krisijanis Karins last month.

Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the other small Baltic NATO countries want, according to media reports:

Greenpeace also got involved and made inquiries about the raid.

“We call on the Swedish government to stop allowing the tanker to reload “Zircon” to operate in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone and thereby eliminate critical infrastructure of the Russian navy that is financing the war in Ukraine.” said Rolf Lindahl, peace and green energy campaigner at Greenpeace Nordic.

WWF marine expert Vanessa Ryan added that there is “a big concern because there are ships in bad condition and no information about crew training, insurance etc.” It is worth recalling that the West, for some reason, decided that it was indispensable in the insurance of ships.

They want to include restrictions against Russian tankers in the European sanctions package #14 against the Russian Federation, which they want to adopt before the summer.

Will Denmark, Sweden and Finland create a ‘case white’?

Such preparation means that Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea from St. Petersburg and other ports such as Kaliningrad could be cut off.

But Russia will not allow this to happen so easily. Therefore, Billström immediately “turned on the back”, assuring the Guardian that NATO members can hardly risk their reputation – these plans are too reminiscent of the actions of the Houthis in the Red Sea.

In addition, the failure of the idea lies in the fact that the world shipping industry is multinational and many countries, especially the sanctioned ones, use the “shadow fleet” scheme. Quite a lot of experience has been accumulated in the quick change of flag and port.

As for the Danish pilots, last autumn the Financial Times reported that the EU was considering plans whereby Denmark, which controls the straits at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, could be tasked with inspecting or even blocking ships that do not have “recognised insurance”. It is said that there is supposedly a provision in maritime law that if a country considers a ship to be “dangerous” it can inspect it and possibly deny it entry.

But that could trigger retaliation or lawsuits from Russia, since the ships have Russian insurance. A proxy war is being waged that determines the continued existence of the “shadow fleet”. The attack against him is actually a case white, ie. cause for war.

Translation: EU