{"id":448416,"date":"2026-03-23T17:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/03\/23\/metaniera-russa-alla-deriva-nel-mediterraneo-il-wwf-chiede-lintevento-dellue\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T11:12:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T10:12:39","slug":"russian-lng-tanker-adrift-in-the-mediterranean-wwf-calls-for-eu-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/03\/23\/russian-lng-tanker-adrift-in-the-mediterranean-wwf-calls-for-eu-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian LNG tanker adrift in the Mediterranean: WWF calls for EU action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 “A precautionary, transparent, and internationally coordinated action”. This is the appeal\u00a0released today (23 March) by\u00a0WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative<\/a>,<\/p>\n

the Mediterranean regional programme of the nature conservation organisation, regarding the case of the LNG tanker
\nArctic Metagaz<\/a>,<\/p>\n

part of Russia\u2019s shadow fleet, which has been adrift without a crew in the Mediterranean for weeks. As stated in the organisation\u2019s press release, \u201cthe vessel is carrying large volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and between 700 and 900 tonnes of diesel <\/strong>and remains in an extremely unstable condition.\u201d For these reasons, \u201cthe consequences of an accident could be catastrophic and long-lasting\u201d and \u201cMediterranean countries and the European Union must act immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Arctic Metagaz LNG tanker is part of the Kremlin\u2019s so-called “shadow fleet<\/a>“, a fleet of vessels that, despite EU sanctions, continue to transport oil and gas illegally. On 3 March, whilst sailing off the coast of Malta, the vessel was damaged by a series of explosions in a drone attack<\/strong>, the circumstances of which remain unclear: Moscow claims that the Ukrainians were responsible, but Kyiv has not yet responded to these allegations. The thirty crew members abandoned the vessel<\/strong> immediately after the explosions and, since then,\u00a0 the LNG tanker has been drifting<\/b>,\u00a0driven towards the Libyan coast by winds and currents.<\/p>\n

As Isabella Pratesi<\/strong>, head of the Conservation Department at WWF, pointed out in an interview this morning on Rainews24, the area in question is particularly critical as it represents “a site rich in biodiversity<\/strong> that is home to protected species, critical habitats, and strategic migration routes for marine wildlife.” Furthermore, “the semi-enclosed nature<\/strong> of the Mediterranean limits water circulation and slows down the ecosystem\u2019s recovery.” In light of all this, a leak or explosion could cause \u201clarge-scale marine and atmospheric pollution<\/strong>, lethal clouds of cryogenic gas<\/strong> affecting marine species, fires and long-term contamination<\/strong> of water and seabeds.\u201d Finally, there is the economic risk<\/strong>, with the possibility of “serious consequences for fishing, tourism and the livelihoods of coastal communities.”<\/p>\n

The WWF is therefore urging Mediterranean countries and the EU as a whole to take immediate action “to stabilise the ship<\/strong> and prevent the situation from deteriorating,” to ensure that all decisions are guided “by environmental risk assessments<\/strong> and the precautionary principle,” avoid \u201chigh-risk options<\/strong> such as towing or uncontrolled sinking\u201d and strengthen \u201creal-time monitoring and data sharing between countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a critical moment for the Mediterranean,\u201d says the Director of\u00a0WWF\u2019s Mediterranean Marine Initiative, Giuseppe Di Carlo<\/b>. \u201cWe are facing a potential environmental disaster in one of the most fragile and valuable marine ecosystems on the planet. Beyond the immediate ecological danger, this incident threatens the very livelihoods of Mediterranean coastal communities. A major spill or explosion would damage fisheries and jeopardize the income of thousands of fishers who rely on a healthy sea for their survival\u201d underlines Di Carlo, encouraging governments to act together, decisively, and with the environment as the top priority. \u201cDelays or poorly coordinated responses could have consequences that last for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several countries in the region (Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus<\/strong>) took action\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/span>last Wednesday (23 March). The five countries sent a joint letter to the European Commission, calling for the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism<\/strong> in light of an \u201cimminent and serious risk of an ecological disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Arctic Metagaz, currently drifting towards Libya, is part of Russia\u2019s shadow fleet and is carrying large volumes of liquefied natural gas and between 700 and 900 tonnes of diesel. \u201cThe consequences of a leak or an explosion would be catastrophic and long-lasting\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7899,"featured_media":404395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25712],"tags":[25871,33492,33120,33493,25806,28376,33494,25803,33495],"class_list":["post-448416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-arctic-metagaz","tag-diesel","tag-flotta-ombra-russia","tag-gas-and-2","tag-mediterranean-en","tag-rischio-ambientale","tag-russia-in-2","tag-wwf"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7899"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448468,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448416\/revisions\/448468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}