Russian sailors are hated, discriminated against and treated badly by both authorities and their peers around the world, the Danish trade magazine Lederne Søfart reported.
Carsten Ostenfeldt, who has a top position in the large international ship management company Anglo-Eastern, told the magazine that Russians are directly harassed during port calls, as the authorities, for instance, may spend up to six hours looking through their passports and papers.
“Our Russian sailors are solid people who have been with us for many years, but we are in a situation where having Russian crew on board can cause major problems in ports,” Ostenfeldt said.
Apart from personal insults and pain, this bureaucratic harassment may cause business problems.
“In certain cases, we have to refrain from sending the Russian sailors on board, because it can cause problems both for them and for us. It's a real shame for the people affected,” Carsten Ostenfeldt said.
This has led to staffing challenges, as some shipping companies have opted out of recruiting Russian sailors, not least due to the sanctions presenting challenges in paying wages.
Lederne Søfart also cited an international lack of personnel in maritime workforce. According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the number of sailors worldwide is decreasing due to old age, the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, as Russians and Ukrainians jointly make up to 15 percent of the global maritime workforce. According to the organization's estimate, the global lack of personnel may reach 90,000 by 2026 with the current trends.
Carsten Ostenfeldt emphasized that, contrary to some people's expectations, despite the ongoing conflict, Ukrainian and Russian sailors get along abroad without any trouble.
“I have the impression that they can easily figure it out. In fact, we have heard of something resembling pure harmony — Russians and Ukrainians supporting each other as they muster,” Ostenfeldt said.
Since the start of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, the West has frozen Russian assets abroad, as well as introduced fuel embargos and flight bans. Western nations have also cancelled Russian participation in sporting competitions, cultural events and social gatherings. While purportedly geared to only target “decision-makers”, the real goal of the sanctions clearly is to make make the life of everyday Russians worse, which has been admitted by high-ranking Western politicians including Finnish PM Sanna Marin (who notoriously said that sanctions must hit “ordinary Russians”). Furthermore, Russians in Europe and the West in general have faced discrimination, hostility and humiliation, including violent attacks for no reason other than simply being Russian.