Russian ships not banned from Faroese ports

Three Russian fishing vessels arrived at the Port of Runavík yesterday.

This left some locals bewildered, believing that a ban on Russian ships in Faroese ports would be an obvious part of government sanctions against Russia.

Runavík mayor Torbjørn Jacobsen said on Sunday that it is up to the government to decide who can and who cannot enter the country’s ports.

He added that he had not heard anything from the government about this decision.

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Foreign minister Jenis av Rana says that the government currently has no plans to close Faroese ports to Russian ships.

“Since the start of this war, we have been saying that we will base our decisions on NATO and EU policy with regards to sanctions against Russia,” he says.

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Rana’s Danish counterpart last week told him that there are currently no plans to introduce a blanket ban on Russian ships seeking to enter European ports.

The two ministers also talked about the difference between regular Russian sailors and oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin in terms of sanctions.

“At this point, it does not seem entirely right to punish innocent sailors for the actions taken by their president,” he says.

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“However, we are keeping a close eye on how the situation develops, and we may revise our stance on this in the coming days or weeks.”

The government’s sanctions package has not yet been finalised, according to Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen.

“We follow the general approach of the EU and other western nations with regards to food exports and port closures, and no official stance has been announced regarding sanctions in these areas,” he said today.

Read the Faroese versions of this article here and here.

More Faroese News in English.