Representatives of environmental organizations in the UK have held a protest against the growing danger of the shadow fleet. Up to two hundred participants came out with a poster «Oil kills», «We are against the shadow fleet», «The shadow fleet destroys the sea space».
Participants in the action say that they are concerned about the increasing number of trips of ships carrying oil and liquefied natural gas from Russian ports in the Baltic and the North Sea near the UK. They are concerned that these ships are usually old, and they often release oil. They are also suspicious of practices where shadow fleet ships were used as tools for reconnaissance and sabotage activities. Environmentalists believe that the practice of so-called «oil transfer» is particularly dangerous, when ships openly transfer oil between themselves on the high seas.
The participants in the action say they are in favor of strengthening the fight against the shadow fleet, expanding the sanctions list, banning the provision of any services in British and European ports, and introducing an increasing number of arrests for this type of ship with confiscation of cargo.
