Ukraine: Russian oil transferred between ships in Cape Verdean waters

The Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, confirmed that the transfer of Russian fuel between ships is under investigation and that it was carried out in waters of the country's Exclusive Economic Zone.

The position comes after the release, this week, of a report by the Bloomberg agency reporting on new routes and methods used by ships to deliver Russian oil, circumventing international sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, including the transfer of fuel between ships to north of the Cape Verde archipelago.

The most recent operation to transfer Russian oil, of 730,000 barrels, took place on April 15 and took 35 hours to complete, from the ship "Volans" to the supertanker "Scorpius", but the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, in addition to mentioning that an investigation is underway, he underlined the difficulty of controlling a maritime area larger than the territory of France, without the means to do so.

“ To cover and inspect this entire area requires means that the country does not have fully available, but we have partnerships, we have information to be able to activate the mechanisms when necessary ”, said the head of the Cape Verdean Government.

With an area of 4,033 square kilometers (km2), the Cape Verde archipelago is spread over an area of approximately 87 miles (140 km) in radius, with around 1,000 km of coastline and a maritime area of national responsibility of 734,265 km2, which includes archipelagic waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the Exclusive Economic Zone.

According to data from the Cape Verdean Armed Forces, the "Guardião" patrol vessel is the most important in the Cape Verde Coast Guard fleet and has undergone several interventions in recent years, having been inoperative for several months. The 51 meter long ship was built at Damen shipyards, Netherlands, in 2011.

The fleet also includes the NP "Vigilante", 52 meters long and built in Germany in 1971, the NP "Tainha", 26 meters long and built in China in 1998, the NP "Espadarte", built in the United States of America in 1993 , like the NP "Rei", from 2009 and with 13 meters.

The military offensive launched on February 24, 2022 by Russia in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.6 million people - 6.5 million internally displaced and more than 8.1 million to European countries -, according to with the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).

The Russian invasion - justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia's security - was condemned by the international community in general, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing it on Russia of political and economic sanctions.

The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war, 8,534 dead civilians and 14,370 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones. A Semana com Lusa / Photo Russian ship Pegas (Voa file)