Estonia will not detain ships of the so-called of the Russian shadow fleet in the Baltic Sea for fear that it would lead Moscow to decide to defend them militarily. This was stated on Friday by a representative of the Estonian army, reports TASR according to the Reuters agency.
European countries such as Great Britain, France, Belgium and Sweden have intensified control activities against the so-called tankers. shadow fleet which, according to them, Moscow uses to export oil in violation of the sanctions imposed on Russia for starting a war in Ukraine.
However, Estonia took a restrained stance. Tallinn stated that in May 2025, Moscow sent a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea to prevent an oil tanker from stopping, which the Estonian authorities suspected of evading sanctions. A military aircraft escorted the tanker back into Russian waters.
“The risk of military escalation is simply too high,” Estonian Navy Commander Ivo Vark told Reuters. According to him, Estonia would consider intervention only in case of imminent danger, such as damage to underwater infrastructure or oil spills.
“The Russian military presence here in the Gulf of Finland has become much, much more apparent,” Vark stated, referring to the fact that Since last year, Moscow has established a permanent presence of two or three armed warships in the Gulf of Finland and deployed additional vessels in the Baltic Sea along the shipping routes of tankers with Russian oil.
The Kremlin calls the sanctions a deliberate attempt to economically harm Russia and emphasizes that its ships have the right to free navigation in the Baltic Sea, with Moscow ready to respond to any attempt to stop them.
