The cargo vessel Sea Owl I, which is on the EU sanctions list and suspected of sailing under a false flag, was boarded by Swedish authorities in Swedish territorial waters on Thursday evening, March 12.
Prosecutors have initiated a preliminary investigation against the captain of the ship, a Russian citizen, according to a press release from the prosecution Friday, March 13.
The vessel was sailing from Santos, Brazil en route to Primorsk, Russia and is reportedly sailing without cargo, according to the Swedish Coast Guard.
Sea Owl I, a 228-meter-long cargo vessel built in 2007, sails under the Comorian flag, a country off the east coast of Africa, which in recent years has transported oil products between Russia and Brazil. The Coast Guard suspects that the vessel is sailing under a false flag.
The operation was carried out in the Baltic Sea off Trelleborg, in southern Sweden by the National Task Force with the help of the Coast Guard’s national boarding group and a police helicopter. A preliminary investigation into suspected violations of the Maritime Act regarding lack of seaworthiness was initiated on Thursday evening.
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha lauded “Sweden’s decisive action against Russia’s shadow fleet” on X on Friday, March 13. He wrote: “For the second time this week Sweden’s Coast Guard has boarded the suspected shadow vessel in Swedish territorial waters, and we commend this firm action. Russia’s shadow fleet helps finance its war against Ukraine and threatens our European security. It must be confronted decisively and without hesitation.
Carl-Oskar Bohlin, the Swedish Minister for Civil Defense, wrote on X: “The Russian shadow fleet poses a significant security and environmental threat,” among other things because the ships are often “aged” and “poorly maintained, falsely flagged or completely stateless.”
He added: “The problem is primarily about circumventing sanctions against Russia, especially regarding oil exports, but also about the environment, poor seamanship and inadequate insurance arrangements.”
Bohlin also warned of the risk of accidents and pointed out that “the shadow fleet is also often of central importance to the Russian economy.”
Daniel Stenling, Deputy Chief of Operations at the Coast Guard, said that “the threats to maritime safety and the environment are too high. Therefore, there is a basis for an intervention against the ship”.
The Coast Guard boarded the vessel to investigate several suspected crimes, according to the March 13 press release.
“At present, no person is in custody in the case,” senior prosecutor Adrien Combier-Hogg, who is leading the preliminary investigation, said. “The suspect is the captain, on board the vessel Sea Owl 1, a Russian citizen. The preliminary investigation I initiated today concerns suspicions of using false document, a serious crime, and additional violations of maritime law.”
Last week, on March 6, the Coast Guard, with the support of the National Task Force, took control of the ship Caffa near Trelleborg, Sweden. The ship was later placed under a so-called international ban on use, decided by the Swedish Transport Agency. The captain of the Caffa is suspected of several violations of the Maritime Act and the use of false document, a serious crime.