Five EU leaders seek urgent solution to drifting Russian tanker to avoid environmental disaster

Rome — Five southern European countries are seeking an urgent solution to an unmanned Russian tanker plying in the Mediterranean, warning the European Commission that it poses a major environmental risk, Spain’s government said in a letter confirmed on Wednesday.

Arctic Metagaz is part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” that carries sanctioned fossil fuels. The tanker, carrying liquefied natural gas, was badly damaged in a suspected maritime drone attack near Maltese waters earlier this month.

In early March, Russia blamed an attack by Ukrainian maritime drones for shooting down one of its tankers carrying liquefied natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya.

In a joint letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the leaders of Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and Cyprus warned that the ship posed an “imminent and serious risk” of a major environmental disaster and requested the activation of the bloc’s civil protection mechanism.

In addition to the Spanish government, three EU government officials confirmed the contents of the letter. The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The five leaders urged a coordinated EU-level response to quickly mobilize resources, citing the tanker’s damaged condition and dangerous cargo as key concerns.

“The ship’s precarious condition, combined with the nature of its specialized cargo, poses an imminent and serious risk of a major environmental disaster at the heart of the Union’s maritime space,” he wrote in the letter.

All the crew survived but the damaged tanker, which was carrying LNG and other fuels, is now floating without its crew and payload of explosive fuel.

In their letter, the five leaders highlighted the wider dangers posed by ships operating outside international norms, warning of threats to maritime safety and the environment across the Mediterranean.

The leaders said they intended to raise the issues at this week’s European Council meeting, expressing their willingness to cooperate with the Commission to ensure a “swift, European-led resolution”.

Earlier this week the tanker was drifting between Malta and the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, but it is now approaching Libya, Maltese media reported on Wednesday.

Alfredo Mantovano, Italy’s undersecretary for headquarters, told an Italian radio program on Monday that Malta had imposed a ban on coming within 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of the tanker because “the vessel could explode at any moment.”

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Elena Bekatoros in Athens and Menelas Hadjikostis in Nicosia, Cyprus contributed to this report.