MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/. The blockade of the Russian "shadow fleet" planned by Western countries will be further extended to Russia's allies to weaken them and continue the trade war, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, said.
Earlier, TASS published a statement by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service that the British special services, in cooperation with NATO countries, plan to create an environmental disaster in the international waters for a massive raid on Russia's "shadow fleet."
"This will be related not only to the interests of the Russian Federation, it basically fits into the general pattern of the trade war targeting China and our allies, including the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the global South as a whole. In particular, the maritime logistics of Venezuela and Iran, which buttress the petroleum trade, are under attack. This method of paralyzing maritime logistics will be projected to all countries that are not part of the Western coalition," Stepanov, who is also a senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS.
For this purpose, NATO will specifically create a negative media image of the Russian "shadow fleet," creating imaginary environmental problems and conducting hidden sabotage with the aim of a focal spill of petroleum products. He noted that potential strikes on ships and the resulting environmental pollution may be presented in the Western media as a negligent act by the Russian and Russian-friendly tanker fleet, and international prohibitive measures will be initiated to restrict maritime navigation.