Denmark will step up environmental checks on oil tankers in a key shipping lane linking the Baltic and North Seas to crack down on Russia's "shadow fleet," Copenhagen said on Monday.
More than 60,000 ships sail past Skagen in northern Denmark each year, of which dozens are suspected to belong to a flotilla of rickety ships used by Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions on Russia's fossil fuel exports.
The announcement comes after a vessel believed to belong to this "shadow fleet" was linked to mysterious drone sightings over Denmark last month, closing airports at a time of heightened East-West tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We're now reinforcing the control of basic environmental rules so we can act in a more coherent and effective manner against petrol tankers and Russia's 'shadow fleet,'" said Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke in a statement.
Estimated to include up to 1,000 ships, which frequently change their flags and whose ownership is unclear, the fleet has enabled Moscow to keep exporting its crude oil for much-needed revenue despite curbs on exports.
Experts and several European leaders also believe some vessels have been used by Russia to conduct hybrid warfare across the continent.
Danish police have not ruled out the possibility that one such ship was involved in the drone sightings above airports and military installations in the Scandinavian country in late September.
That vessel, the Boracay, was later boarded by France and halted for five days.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called France's detention of the Boracay "piracy."
"We have to stop Putin's war machine," Danish Industry Minister Morten Bodskov said in Monday's statement.
"We're using all the tools at our disposal."
AFP
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