A Russian state-owned ship is leaving the Clyde – after concerns over its presence were raised in Parliament.
NS Century had been alongside at the Finnart oil terminal on Loch Long, close to the Coulport nuclear armaments depot.
Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara raised the matter with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in the House of Commons yesterday.
And this morning two tugs escorted the 57,000-tonne tanker out of Loch Long, with ship-monitoring apps showing its destination as unknown.
Yesterday Mr O’Hara pointed out that Finnart was close to the Royal Navy’s Coulport armaments depot, where Trident nuclear missiles are stored.
“Why when we’re imposing such harsh economic sanctions on the Kremlin are we continuing to allow Russian state-owned oil tankers to go freely about their business, particularly so close to this most sensitive military installation,” he asked.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss answered: “They won’t be going about their business freely for much longer.”
It is understood that the tanker is registered as Liberian as a ‘flag of convenience’.
The Finnart oil terminal is connected by pipelines to the refinery at Grangemouth and operated by the INEOS group.
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