Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström has expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea, saying that Moscow is posing a threat of environmental disaster by using unreliable tankers to transport oil. He emphasized that approximately half of all Russian seaborne oil transportation passes through the Baltic Sea and Danish waters. These operations are often carried out using vessels that operate under unclear ownership and try to avoid international control by using international waters. This information is provided by The Guardian.

On his first visit to London since Sweden joined NATO, Billström expressed the need for new rules and enforcement mechanisms to ostensibly prevent a potential environmental disaster from collisions or oil leaks from these tankers, many of which he said were on on the verge of losing seaworthiness.

The minister stressed that the fleet, in addition to its direct participation in circumventing Western sanctions that block access to insurance if Russia sells oil at a price above $60 per barrel, also poses a significant threat to the environment.

However, experts believe that the real introduction of new regulatory mechanisms is based on minimizing the transit of Russian oil and blocking access for Russian tankers to the Baltic Sea, which is an attempt to put pressure on Moscow from the West.