Seemingly seriously affected by an intensifying ban by western nations on Russian imports arising out of protests against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia-owned tankers have reportedly been reduced to lying idle at sea, hostages to events in the conflict zone and the ongoing diplomatic and political din associated with, hopefully, ending the conflict.
Setting aside the wall of political and moral support from the west and further afield over the Russian military hostilities against Ukraine, countries along the European and North American coasts have been frowning on attempts by Russian oil tankers and other vessels to dock at their ports, pointedly refusing to engage them in the matter of the unloading of Russian crude.