Link to article: https://www.rt.com/news/634983-greek-flagged-oil-tanker-attacked-black-sea-russian-coast/
Recently a Greek oil tanker carrying Russian oil and gas was attacked 14 nautical miles off the coast of Russia. It is suspected that this attack was carried out by Ukrainian drones, as this reflects many recent drone attacks that have been used to disrupt Russian oil and gas in the Black Sea. Nobody was harmed in the incident. The attack only caused minor damage to the deck and equipment. Greek representatives have vowed to put in a word at the European Council. Another recent attack happened off the coast of Malta with a Russian oil tanker being struck by unmanned Ukrainian boats. Vladimir Putin called it a “terrorist attack.”. There have been several other notable recent Ukrainian drone attacks.
This is important for the region as it connects to what is happening with the oil shortages happening in Slovakia and Hungary from the closed Russian pipeline. With continuous strikes and limitations to the Russian flow of oil, this could affect the Russian economy and leave Ukraine successful. Although this does have the negative effect of hurting Ukraine allies in Europe. This is a gamble from Ukraine to pressure Russia to put more skin in the game, forcing the Nato allies to make a move one way or the other. This gamble does lower Nato’s interest in Ukraine due to an increased need for energy right now that Ukraine is interrupting. Ukraine should be looking to wait out Russia and continue the pressure, not rushing a move to push Russia. Ukraine is likely doing this because of resource strain and lessening support from allies, needing to speed up its cycle of attack to gain any ground. Russia should continue to act how it is, as from outside Ukraine is only hurting its own relations. Europe should push Ukraine to perform more targeted attacks that don’t affect their bottom line.
This article reflects possible benefits and negatives of IGO membership. With Ukraine taking full advantage of Nato and EU alliances to continue the war. This could also be seen with the negative side of Greece, Hungary, and Slovakia getting the bad part of Nato and EU regulations, having to put up with Ukraine hurting their economies.