A ship carrying explosives has approached Britain after being rejected by European countries

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A damaged ship carrying up to 20,000 tonnes of explosive ammonium nitrate from Russia is sailing to Britain after being rejected by other European countries.

The Maltese-flagged Ruby is approaching England’s southeast coast after leaving the Russian port of Kandalaksha last month, loaded with the chemical, which is used as a fertilizer but can become explosive when exposed to fire, according to maritime authorities and ship tracking group MarineTraffic.

The vessel reported its destination as the Maltese fishing village of Marsaxlokk, but according to Norwegian authorities, it sustained damage to its hull after running aground.

While there was no suggestion of an imminent explosion, the ship raised the alarm after being instructed to steer clear of ports in Norway and Lithuania, according to diplomats and intelligence experts.

It rekindled memories of a devastating explosion of improperly stored ammonium nitrate in Beirut four years ago that killed at least 200 people. Ruby is carrying more than seven times the amount of explosives that was in the Beirut explosion.

Britain’s HM Coastguard said it had been in contact with the vessel and would continue to monitor its progress through British waters.

It added that the ship was “making its way, accompanied by an escort tug” and that “HM Coastguard has a 24/7 capability to respond to requests for assistance and ensure the safety of shipping in UK waters”.

The ship has been closely watched since it attempted to dock in the Norwegian Arctic port of Tromsø before being sent to anchor far from the coast in early September. Intelligence experts criticized the Norwegian authorities’ approach of letting the ship, with its dangerous cargo, remain close to crucial military and civilian infrastructure.

Russia’s use of civilian vessels to monitor crucial infrastructure such as oil and gas pipelines in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Norway has already raised anxiety in the Nordic countries and NATO.

A decrepit shadow fleet of tankers carrying the country’s oil has fueled concerns, particularly in Denmark and around the Baltic Sea, over the risk of environmental disaster.

“Ruby could be a great way to test how the Norwegian authorities and NATO would react” to a dangerous ship running into trouble in their waters, a Nordic diplomat said as he sailed off Norway’s west coast and blockade outside Bergen, the country’s most important oil and petroleum. gas base.

Finnish and Estonian authorities are separately investigating the cutting of a gas pipeline and data cable between the two countries last October by the anchoring of a Chinese container that had previously stopped in Russia.

The sabotage of the twin Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022 remains unexplained by officials. German prosecutors are investigating whether a Ukrainian group was behind the attack, while some Northern officials have focused on suspicious movements of Russian military vessels around the time of the explosion.