Germany was battling Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship that it said was part of Russia's sanctions-busting "shadow fleet" away from shore to avert an oil spill.
The 274-metre-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tonnes of oil on board when its engine failed and it lost the ability to manoeuvre overnight from Thursday to Friday, according to Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies.
As the vessel drifted in coastal waters Friday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock slammed Russia's use of "dilapidated oil tankers" to avoid sanctions on its oil exports, calling it a threat to European security.
Three tugs have linked up with the Eventin and are attempting to steer it toward a "safer" area where there is "more sea space", the command said.
On Saturday afternoon a spokeswoman for the command told AFP the operation would take until Sunday at the earliest and that the waves in the area were up to four metres high.
The commando said the area was experiencing winds of 7 on the Beaufort scale, with some gusts of up to 9.
The convoy was originally heading for a site off Ruegen island's Cape Arkona but weather conditions forced a change of direction and it will now aim for a location close to the town of Sassnitz, also on Ruegen.
No oil leaks were detected by several surveillance flights, authorities said Friday.
- 'Rusty tankers'-
Although the tanker was navigating under the Panamanian flag, the German foreign ministry linked it to Russia's "shadow fleet" used to avoid Western sanctions imposed on its oil exports over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Baerbock said that "by ruthlessly deploying a fleet of rusty tankers, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not only circumventing the sanctions, but is also willingly accepting that tourism on the Baltic Sea will come to a standstill" in the event of an accident.
Western countries have hit Russia's oil industry with an embargo and banned the provision of services to ships carrying oil by sea.
In response, Russia has relied on tankers with opaque ownership or without proper insurance to continue lucrative oil exports.
The number of ships in the "shadow fleet" has exploded since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to the Atlantic Council, a US think-tank.
In addition to direct action against Russia's oil industry, Western countries have moved to sanction individual ships thought to be in the shadow fleet.
The European Union has so far sanctioned over 70 ships suspected of ferrying Russian oil.
The United States and Britain on Friday moved to impose restrictions on around 180 more ships in the shadow fleet.