Swedish coast guard seizes suspected false flag tanker

STOCKHOLM: The Swedish Coast Guard said on Sunday it had seized a tanker in the Baltic Sea believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, the latest in a string of similar actions carried out in recent months by the country’s authorities.

The Swedish Coast Guard said in a statement that it and police had boarded the Syrian-flagged Jin Hui in Swedish territorial waters south of Trelleborg and begun a preliminary investigation into a lack of seaworthiness.

“The coast guard suspects that the ship is sailing under a false flag, given there are a number of irregularities concerning its flag status, and therefore does not meet demands for seaworthiness as set out in international regulations and agreements,” it said.

The coast guard said the ship, whose destination was unclear and was thought to be carrying no cargo, figured on several sanctions lists, including those of the European Union and Britain.

Swedish Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said separately on X that the vessel was suspected of belonging to the Russian so-called shadow fleet.

European nations have stepped up efforts to disrupt the so-called shadow fleet of tankers used by Moscow to fund its four-year war against Ukraine. Russia has condemned such moves as hostile.