Italian Navy Boards Probable Russian Vessel in the Mediterranean

The Italian Navy said its personnel boarded a vessel in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday it claimed was linked to Russia. The navy reported that personnel from one of its ships now serving as flagship of a European Union mission in the Mediterranean Sea, boarded the oil tanker west of the island of Pantelleria in the central Mediterranean Sea.

The navy stated the ship is presently subject to European sanctions and belongs to the so-called Russian shadow fleet. The tanker “Toa Payoh”, sailing under the Cameroon flag, departed from the port of Cotonou, in the African country of Benin, on 16 July and was heading for Istanbul, Turkey, the Italian Navy reported. Troops boarded the ship after its captain refused to cooperate when approached to provide information, the navy said.

The shadow fleet is made up of older tankers bought used, frequently by nontransparent corporations with addresses in non-sanctioning nations such as the United Arab Emirates or the Marshall Islands, and flagged in places like Gabon or the Cook Islands.

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