WARSAW (Reuters) – A Russian “shadow fleet” ship has been seen circling around the Baltic Pipe subsea pipeline that delivers gas from Norway to Poland, Polish state broadcaster TVP World said on Tuesday, citing a foreign ministry source.
Several incidents have taken place on the Baltic Sea since 2022 in which underwater critical infrastructure has suffered suspicious damage. Baltic Sea nations are on high alert and NATO has said it will boost its presence in the area.
“A Russian ‘shadow-fleet’ vessel has circled over a stretch of a pipeline carrying Norwegian gas to Poland in the Baltic Sea,” TVP World, the English-language channel of public broadcaster TVP, said on its website.
‘Shadow fleet’ refers to vessels used by Russia to move oil, arms and grains around in violation of international sanctions imposed on it over the Ukraine war. The vessels are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.
Gaz System, which operates the Polish section of the pipeline, had no immediate comment.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and leaders of NATO member countries bordering on the Baltic Sea meet in Helsinki in Tuesday to discuss strengthening NATO’s presence on the sea.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Karol Badohal and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by)
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