EU authorizes ships in Mediterranean to detain tankers carrying Russian oil — Kallas

NICOSIA, June 8. /TASS/. EU member states have authorized their naval vessels operating in the Mediterranean as part of Operation IRINI to detain foreign tankers suspected of transporting Russian oil as part of what Brussels describes as the "shadow fleet," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced upon arriving at an informal meeting of EU defense ministers.

"We will also discuss the shadow fleet. Our operation IRINI has changed the rules of engagement and has now started to board the ships as well, so the idea is to change the best practices that different countries [of the EU] are doing with those ships," she said, stressing that the main objective of the measure is to "curb Russia from funding" its military operation in Ukraine.

Operation IRINI was launched by the EU in the Mediterranean in 2020 to inspect commercial vessels and prevent illegal arms shipments to Libya. According to the report, it did not succeed in achieving that objective.