The EU is not doing enough to stop Russia’s shadow fleet from transporting sanctioned oil, the president of the European Parliament admitted.
Roberta Metsola told Sky News’s lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim the bloc needs to cooperate more to make sure ships carrying illegal goods do not continue to sail through European waters.
“We still have to do more on the shadow fleet, with more vessels that need to be impounded,” she said.
Russia uses its shadow fleet to export large quantities of crude oil despite Western sanctions.
Ms Metsola said the EU had adopted 19 packages of sanctions, but needed to bring in a 20th regime to clamp down further.
She admitted European countries are continuing to fund Russia’s war by buying oil and gas, saying it was “unacceptable”.
“For us, any possibility for Russia to continue to wage its war against Ukraine and against Europe as a whole, by using funds that could inadvertently or overtly come from the European Union, is unacceptable,” she added.
Ms Metsola said the EU placed sanctions to prevent Russian gas from being bought inside the EU or imported via other countries in cheaper or different forms, and is edging closer to banning oil to the same extent.
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Asked if there was a plan to seize vessels operating in Russia’s shadow fleet, Ms Metsola said: “We have seen a lot of work, jointly, on this shadow fleet. It’s not solved yet. There are a lot of vessels that continue to operate.”
She said ships had been identified quickly changing their flags, changing their registration from one jurisdiction to another “in an illegal manner” – but admitted “we need to be faster”.
“I think we are doing well, but we need to do better,” she said.
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Sky News tracked dozens of Russian tankers loaded with sanctioned oil sailing between Britain and France.
The vessels carrying Russian oil worth around $100m (£74.1m) cruised through the Channel in defiance of Western sanctions.
Tankers the Rigel, the Hyperion and the Kousai were followed from the Gulf of Finland, where they had been loaded with oil at Russian Baltic ports, as they passed the narrowest point of the Dover Straits.
These ships were part of a “shadow fleet” of up to 800 vessels that kept the oil revenues funding the war in Ukraine.
This week marked the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Peace talks between negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the US are being held in Abu Dhabi.
