European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering the bloc's ports, aiming to tighten sea restrictions after a halt on air traffic, European officials say, a step that would further hamper Russia's commercial shipments.
Britain already decided on Monday to deny entry to British ports to all ships that are Russian owned, operated, controlled, chartered, registered or flagged. Canada followed on Tuesday, saying it would shut its ports to Russian-owned ships later this week, a day after it banned Russian crude oil imports.
The Marshall Islands-flagged NS Champion, which is operated by Russian shipping company Sovcomflot, turned away from the UK on Monday after the UK ban was declared and reported it was heading to Denmark with an oil cargo onboard and an expected arrival on March 2, ship tracking data on Eikon showed.
Two other vessels carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, the Marshall Islands La Perouse, operated by Sovcomflot, and the Cyprus-flagged Christophe De Margerie, operated by Russia's Yamal, were both heading to France in coming days, Eikon ship tracking data showed.
With tighter global energy supplies, cutting off such shipments poses a challenge for Europe, which joined the United States and other allies in imposing an array of sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special operation".
Denmark's foreign ministry said EU foreign ministers discussed closing European ports to Russian ships on Sunday.
"Denmark is actively working for the EU to make a common decision to close its ports to Russian vessels," the foreign ministry said in an emailed comment to Reuters.
"We have already decided to close the Danish airspace to Russian aircraft. At the same time, we are open to looking at new initiatives in collaboration with our European partners."
A French government official told Reuters the EU was working on more sanctions and the closure of ports to Russian ships was a possibility, but added that any additional steps should affect Russia "proportionally much more than our own economies".
A Greek government official said Athens "will implement any decision the European Commission takes on this issue".
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