Baltic and North Sea countries reported the start of tanker inspections

Estonia, Poland, Great Britain, Sweden and Denmark have agreed to start regular joint inspections of insurance certificates of oil tankers. This was reported on December 16 in the press service of the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

"A number of coastal states of the Baltic and North Sea (UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Estonia) have agreed on joint measures to combat the shadow fleet. The group will conduct regular inspections of shadow fleet vessels to check their insurance coverage," the press service said.

It is specified that the inspection will affect tankers that sail through the English Channel, the Danish Strait and the Gulf of Finland with allegedly Russian oil. Also against oil ships will be introduced additional sanctions.

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Earlier, on December 6, it became known that representatives of the EU countries failed to agree on the 15th package of sanctions against Russia. The package provided for the extension of the Czech Republic's right to import Russian oil products, coming mainly through Slovakia. There was also talk of sanctions against tankers transporting Russian oil.

Prior to that, on November 26, Bloomberg reported that Brussels plans to impose restrictions against more than 45 Russian oil tankers as part of the 15th package. Also under threat are more than 50 individuals and about 30 organizations.