Italian navy boards tanker from Russia's "shadow fleet"

The Italian navy carried out an operation on Sunday morning to intercept the tanker Toa Payoh near the island of Pantelleria, the Italian Ministry of Defence has reported. The vessel, which is on the European Union's sanctions list, was sailing from Benin to Istanbul under the Cameroonian flag.

According to the Italian defence ministry, the tanker's captain refused to cooperate with the authorities, prompting Italian servicemen to board the vessel. A Greek warship and a Polish patrol aircraft also took part in the operation.

The main purpose of the inspection was to determine whether the ship was genuinely sailing under the flag declared in its documents. Italian authorities are now reviewing the data and paperwork obtained during the search.

The Italian Ministry of Defence stressed that such inspections of vessels are permitted under international maritime conventions.

Source: novinky.cz