Germany calls a Russian oil tanker adrift in the Baltic Sea a threat to security

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BERLIN (AP) — An oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions went adrift and had to be towed by a German tugboat Friday in what Germany's foreign minister called a danger to security and tourism in the Baltic Sea.

The Panamanian-flagged Eventin was believed to be carrying 99,000 tons of oil from Russia en route to Egypt when it went adrift for several hours north of the German island of Rügen. The Bremen Fighter tugboat was deployed to pull the ship into a harbor, and there was no immediate danger to the environment, the German news agency dpa said.

Greenpeace says that Eventin belongs to a so-called Russian shadow fleet, which is made up of hundreds of aging tankers that are dodging sanctions in order to keep oil revenue flowing into the Russian state budget. The sanctions were imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the incident shows that Russia is endangering European security “not only with its war of aggression on Ukraine” but with sabotage and disinformation “and even with dilapidated oil tankers.”

She said that Russia was not only circumventing sanctions “with the nefarious use of a fleet of rusty tankers,” but also endangering tourism in the Baltic Sea.