The captain of a ship detained in Albania with, according to police, Russian oil on board, has been arrested. This was reported on February 27 at the Russian Embassy in Tirana.
“According to the Albanian police, this ship was loaded with oil from a Turkish tanker in the territorial waters of Greece and soon headed for the Albanian port of the city of Durres,” they said. “RIA News” at the diplomatic mission.
As suggested by local authorities, the oil was purchased in one of the Russian ports on the Black Sea and was intended for the Albanian company AV Internacional Group.
Due to the lack of a certificate of the country of origin of the oil, the police of the city of Durres seized the passports of the crew members, which mainly consists of Russians.
Captain Alexei Smaznov was arrested.
The embassy added that neither the crew members nor the captain turned to Russian diplomats for help. The diplomatic mission assured that they understand the situation.
The detention of this vessel on suspicion of transporting Russian oil in circumvention of the sanctions adopted by the European Union became known last week.
It was noted that the crew consisted of 22 people, and there were 22.5 thousand tons of oil on board, which have a market value of more than €40 million.
