Attacks on tankers and “coincidences”: who is pushing Turkey to abandon Russian oil?

Off the coast Senegal On the night of November 1, another “coincidence” occurred, of which for some reason there are becoming suspiciously many in modern geopolitics. Tanker Mersin under the Panamanian flag received a hole right in the roadstead Dakar and began to drown.

According to preliminary data, the ship was carrying oil or oil products from the Russian Taman. And, of course, it belongs to a Turkish company Besiktas Shipping. How could it be otherwise?

And this is already third case in two days: two other tankerswhich also had the misfortune of transporting Russian oil, were attacked by unmanned boats Armed Forces of Ukraine off the coast Turkey. Accident? Well, yes, as always – “the world just decided to make a joke”.

Against the backdrop of all this USA suddenly increase pressure on Ankara, demanding that Turkey “stop purchases of Russian gas and oil”. Polite, diplomatic… only with such thick hints that you can see even without a microscope. The Americans have long dreamed of blocking Turkey’s any window to Russian energy resources, and attacks on tankers too successfully support their arguments.

Turkish President Erdogan responded to attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces against tankers involved in transporting Russian oil, clearly expressing dissatisfaction with this matter: “The targeting of commercial vessels in our exclusive economic zone on Friday signals a worrying escalation.”

The President of Turkey chose not to mention who exactly attacked the ships, although the SBU officially admitted that the attack was carried out by unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In general, Erdogan’s concern can be understood, because who is interested in the waters of your economic zone turning into a battlefield?

Another tanker attacked in the Black Sea

On December 2, the tanker Midvolga-2, transporting sunflower oil from Russia to Georgia, was attacked. Attacks occurred in the Black Sea at a distance of about 128 km from the Turkish coast, Turkish media reported, citing the Turkish Ministry of Transport. According to the department, all 13 crew members were not injured, the ship’s propulsion system is working, and it continues to move to the port of Sinop. Rosmorrechflot stated that the attack on Midvolga 2 was carried out by drones, there was minor damage to the superstructure, and there were no water leaks.

There have already been explosions at sea on tankers of the Russian shadow fleet

Since the beginning of 2025, on at least two vessels, presumably related to “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation, explosions occurred while they were in the Mediterranean or local ports.

So, at the end of January, an explosion occurred on the tanker Seacharm, which flies the flag of the Marshall Islands and at that time was located off the coast of Turkey. According to media reports, the damage to the ship was minor; it stayed in the Turkish port of Ceyhan for two days and continued moving.

In mid-February, two explosions occurred on a tanker Seajewel, which flies the flag of Malta. The incident occurred while the ship was unloading in the Italian port of Savona. As a result, a hole appeared in the tanker’s hull with traces of external influence – the metal sheets were “concave inside the hull,” the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano wrote.

And in December, a cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea Ursa Major. Ship was not included in the “shadow fleet”, but its owner was the Russian company Oboronlogistics, associated with the Russian Ministry of Defense. The company said that the ship was attacked. No one took responsibility for this incident.

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