Denmark could block Russian oil tankers from reaching markets

Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and potentially blocking tankers of Russian oil sailing through its waters under new EU plans, as western powers scramble to enforce a price cap the Kremlin has learned to avoid, reported from the Financial Times.

According to three people with knowledge of talks in Brussels, Denmark would target tankers transiting the Danish straits without western insurance, under laws permitting states to check vessels they fear pose environmental threats.

All of Russia’s oil shipped through the Baltic Sea, roughly 60 per cent of its total seaborne oil exports, crosses the narrow Danish straits on its way to international markets.

The proposal comes as western officials admit that "almost none” of Russian crude exports were sold below the $60 a barrel cap last month, 11 months after the G7 group of developed nations imposed the measure in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which governs maritime traffic, includes clauses that allow states to "institute proceedings, including detention of the vessel” given "clear objective evidence” that the vessel poses a major threat of coastal damage.

But officials briefed on the proposal say it relies on the capacity of Denmark’s naval authorities to stop and check the tankers, and raises the question of what Copenhagen would do if a ship refused to stop.

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