Washington has eased sanctions on countries buying Russian oil in connection with the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz crisis, an easing welcomed by the Kremlin, but which has caused angst and anger among pro-Ukraine campaigners.
The US waiver is active for a month, and applies to crude which has has been floating at sea and thus was unable to be sold. However, this hasn't stopped some European countries from moving against tankers without proper registration and flags.
Sweden, for example, on Thursday seized a suspected Russia "shadow fleet" tanker sailing under "false flag" - following similar interdicts going back months.
Ship-tracking data shows the 228-meter tanker Sea Owl I had been headed from Santos, Brazil toward Tallinn before Swedish police boarded it off the southern town of Trelleborg.
Swedish authorities said they believe the vessel’s actual destination was Primorsk, near Saint Petersburg. A statement said:
"The tanker Sea Owl I flies the Comorian flag. The coast guard suspects that it is not included in their ship register, that it is sailing under a false flag and that there is therefore no flag state that can guarantee the safety on board," Sweden’s coast guard said.
"A preliminary investigation into suspected violations of the maritime act regarding lack of seaworthiness has been initiated," the coast guard added.
Authorities also noted the vessel is on a European Union sanctions list and has previously transported oil products between Brazil and Russia. Below is some more recent background on prior interdictions:
- On 6 March, Sweden stopped and detained the vessel Caffa in the Baltic Sea over suspicions of sailing under a false flag and violating maritime law and security regulations. The Russian captain of the ship was subsequently arrested.
- On the night of 28 February-1 March, Belgium, with the help of French military helicopters, detained the oil tanker Ethera in the North Sea, another vessel linked to Russia's shadow fleet.
As for the US letting off the gas pedal when comes to pressuring Russian oil exports, the move has been seen as another U-turn, and comes months after President Trump slapped tariffs on Indian goods in a bid to pressure Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to abandon energy purchases from Russia, which India never did.
"To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week in a post on X. "This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea."