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Greenpeace targets Russia-linked Baltic Sea fuel tanker

Greenpeace activists painted slogans on an Estonianowned tanker in the middle of the Baltic Sea on Friday, and stated the ship supplied bunker fuel to vessels carrying Russian oil that positioned a danger to the environment and would sustain conflict.

Oil fuels war, the campaigners, who showed up in little boats, scrawled in large white letters on the side of the Zircone tanker, photos provided by Greenpeace revealed.

The vessel, sitting in international waters off the Swedish island of Gotland, has supplied fuel to more than 50 oil tankers travelling to or from Russian ports in the last two months, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported today.

Greenpeace said it was worried that any mishap or spill from the Cyprus-registered tanker might cause an environmental disaster in the fragile Baltic Sea ecosystem.

The Zircone is part of a fleet run by Quick Bunkering, which in turn is owned by Estonia-registered Baltic Sea Bunkering OU, Latvian and Estonian company registers show.

Quick Bunkering said it offers services just to vessels owned by European business and that it adheres to all suitable sanctions and constraints.

A shadow, or grey fleet of ships continues to run in worldwide waters, transferring oil from Russia, Iran and other sanctioned countries regardless of accreditation providers and engine makers no longer attesting their seaworthiness.

Greenpeace stated in a statement that the Zircone had for months sold fuel to the shadow fleet, a claim the business rejects.

I can assure you that these declarations are not real, and we do not bunker the so-called grey fleet, Quick Bunkering CEO Alexey Volkov stated in a statement to .

Western sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine do not ban the arrangement of marine fuel, which the tankers use to power their own engines as they transfer oil to customers.

We do not utilize marine fuel of Russian origin; the majority of the marine fuels we utilize are of European origin, Volkov said.

(source: Reuters)