cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5344016

Canada and its allies have blacklisted more than 400 unregistered ships – known as shadow vessels – in just six months.

The effort aims to starve Russia of funding for its war on Ukraine while preventing leaky ships from one day compromising Canada’s Arctic environment.

“The idea of illegal, substandard, uninsured vessels transiting through High North and Arctic waters was, is, and remains a terrifying prospect,” said David Angell, a foreign and defence policy adviser to Prime Minister Mark Carney, during a panel hosted by the Polish Embassy in Ottawa on Oct. 10.

The issue is becoming more pertinent to Canada due to climate change in the Arctic, he said.

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Russia has sought for years to evade sanctions western countries put in place after its initial 2014 invasion of Ukraine and its full-scale invasion in 2022.

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Earlier this month, a group called the Nordic-Baltic Eight met in Ottawa alongside most G7 members – except for the U.S.

In a joint statement, the group called out “the use of older, underinsured, and poorly maintained ships that routinely disable or manipulate their automatic identification systems, and the use of stateless or falsely flagged vessels.”

It has pledged to continue maritime surveillance and intelligence sharing to pursue sanctions evasion.

Finland’s Ambassador in Ottawa Hanna-Leena Korteniemi said Finns are “very grateful” to Canada for pushing forward the issue at the G7 because Russian tankers can contaminate European ecosystems and encourage Moscow to make war beyond Ukraine.

The shadow fleet’s use of GPS jamming is a particular concern for Finland, because tankers trying to evade detection can accidentally collide with passenger or commercial ships. Russian tankers leaving St. Petersburg can come close to Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen.

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