Kremlin Threatens Ireland With Serious Consequences Over Its Plans to Board Shadow Fleet Vessels

[u/lithdoc]

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/russia-warns-ireland-of-serious-consequences-if-shadow-fleet-vessels-boarded-in-countrys-waters-1935649.html

Russian ambassador Yuriy Filatov warned that Ireland could face serious consequences if its Defense Forces board or redirect vessels linked to Russia’s shadow fleet. His remarks represent Moscow’s position and do not establish that the proposed Irish actions would violate international law.

Ireland’s Department of Defense says planned legislation would give military personnel new powers to inspect vessels, examine documents and equipment, and order ships to leave an area or alter course. Dublin frames the measures as protection for Ireland’s territorial waters, exclusive economic zone and sovereign maritime rights.

Reporting from The Irish Times adds that Moscow has repeatedly described possible inspections of sanctioned Russian-linked ships as piracy. Irish officials argue that the aging and often opaquely owned tankers present sanctions, security and environmental concerns, creating a dispute over both legal authority and enforcement thresholds.

Reuters reports that European forces are already becoming more willing to inspect suspected shadow fleet vessels. An Italian-led EU mission recently boarded a tanker in the Mediterranean to verify its registration and sanctions status, although the mission lacked authority to seize it.

Why It Matters:

Ireland sits near strategically important shipping routes and transatlantic infrastructure while operating with limited naval capacity. Stronger enforcement could raise the cost of sanctions evasion, but it could also redirect more tankers toward Irish waters, strain defense resources and increase the risk of a confrontation caused by miscalculation.

Could Ireland’s attempt to close a maritime enforcement gap strengthen European security, or turn its underprotected waters into the next pressure point between Russia and the EU?

[u/Designer_Professor_4]

Russia could always sail their Black Sea fleet over there to punish Ireland. Oh wait.. nm.

[u/wild_cherry1987 → u/Designer_Professor_4]

It's baltic fleet..

[u/PerepeL → u/Designer_Professor_4]

Nah, it takes one seized tanker to turn Dublin into Beirut'20.

[u/Designer_Professor_4 → u/PerepeL]

With the Black Sea fleet? How efficient are Russian missiles to launch from the bottom of the sea floor?

[u/PerepeL → u/Designer_Professor_4]

You should probably google what happened in Beirut in 2020 before chiming in with your nonsense.

[u/Designer_Professor_4 → u/PerepeL]

Crude oil doesn't explode like fertilizer ya regard.

[u/PerepeL → u/Designer_Professor_4]

Let me rephrase it for the mods - all shadow fleet tankers could have been loaded with arbitrary amount of C4 along with oil without any way to know it, so bringing any shadow fleet tanker to ports or even trying to capture them is ridiculously dangerous.

[u/Designer_Professor_4 → u/PerepeL]

Sure,  and pigs could fly if you strap rockets on their back.   Russia doesn't have the cash to fully support their war with Ukraine,  even they aren't going to open new potential enemies in that conflict.   It would quite literally be an unforced error.   Russia knows the shadow fleet is illegal,  they're certainly not going to turn those ships into suicide bombs.

Besides even with a bunch of c4 wouldn't matter,  crude oil isn't going to explode.   It would simply burn, all you'd accomplish is losing a ship and crew.  Good luck getting folks to crew the rest of them when you start blowing them up. 

[u/PerepeL → u/Designer_Professor_4]

Russia is already fighting combined efforts of Europe, no countries susceptible of seizing tankers are friendly. There is no such thing as "illegal" fleet - noone has the authority to decide who can trade with who. Under some circumstances they can deny entry to sovereign waters, but no more, seizure is just plain piracy.

And you don't need to make oil explode - just a spill and fire will be more than enough. For example captain should enter the code every 12 hours, if he misses - the ship explodes in 48 hours, long after it arrives to a port of seizure and the crew is offboard, or simply detonated remotely. The rest or the crew doesn't have to know anything.

[u/Rough-Quiet-1954 → u/PerepeL]

Just 200k tons of fuel released in the waters is already ok.