The sanctioned Russian tanker Arctic Metagaz, carrying a large amount of liquefied natural gas, is drifting in the Mediterranean with a huge hole in one side, prompting warnings of a serious ecological disaster, the BBC reports.
Italy is one of nine European Union countries that signed a joint letter to the European Commission calling for action, and an Italian official has described the ship as a ticking time bomb. The tanker is believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet and was damaged near Maltese territorial waters. Moscow insists the ship was attacked by Ukrainian drones. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the incident, but considers the shadow fleet ships to be legitimate targets. They regularly travel with their transmitters off to circumvent Western sanctions. The funds that Russia receives from illegally transported and sold oil are used to continue its aggression on Ukrainian territory. The number of tankers of the shadow fleet has increased recently.
In December, Ukrainian intelligence reported that it had damaged three Russian ships in the Black Sea in two weeks. Also, at the end of last year, the Ukrainians managed to hit the oil tanker Quendil, which was in the Mediterranean Sea. At that time, there was no cargo on board.
Currently,
the Arctic Metagaz is moving away from the Italian coast towards Libya,
and the Maltese authorities are monitoring the ship’s movements.
Speaking on Italian Radio 24, the Secretary of the Italian Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, said that the risk posed by the ship was enormous, and warned that it could explode at any moment.
On the afternoon of the 17th of March, the Arctic Metagaz was about 83 kilometers from Italian territorial waters and about 46 kilometers from the area under Libyan control. The Russian tanker has been drifting in the Mediterranean for the second week, while its crew was rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard. It was initially reported that the Arctic Metagaz had sunk, but it still manages to stay afloat.
The World Wide Fund for Nature has informed that it is on alert, and warned that the potential leak could cause fires and long-term pollution in a very valuable ecological area, which is home to many protected species.
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