It condemned today its decision to allow European warships to stop and inspect foreign ships suspected of belonging to a “shadow fleet” it transports and said it would take all necessary legal and other measures to protect those ships.
The EU has announced that it is expanding the mandate of Operation IRINI, its naval mission in the Mediterranean originally set up to enforce a UN arms embargo on Libya.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the decision posed a threat to maritime security and accused the EU of intimidating civilian ships. He said there was no such thing as a “shadow fleet” in international law and that the term was a “political invention” of the EU.
Russia will use all the tools at its disposal
“The deployment by the European Union of ships of the IRINI maritime enterprise deployed in the Mediterranean to inspect or seize, as they now say, ships carrying petroleum products would be a flagrant violation of international law,” Zakharova told a press conference.
“We reserve the right to use the full political, legal arsenal and other tools at our disposal to protect maritime safety and the legitimate interests of shipping companies and shipowners,” he said.
The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry also said that the new round of European Union sanctions will not achieve its goals and that Moscow will retaliate.
A call for restraint in the Middle East
Russia is “extremely worried” by the new escalation of tensions in the Middle East and appeals for “restraint”, said Maria Zakharova.
“We call on the sides to exercise restraint and an immediate cessation of armed attacks,” he stressed, after Iran announced it had targeted US bases in the Gulf in retaliation for Washington’s strikes against Iranian targets along the Strait of Hormuz.
Russia’s role in Syria
The Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that cooperation with Syria is developing very actively and that Moscow is discussing with Damascus a “possible overhaul” of its military facilities in Syria.
The December 2024 ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Russia, raised questions about the future of Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Lattakia and its naval facilities in Tartus. But Moscow has since built relations with Ahmed al-Shara, a former rebel commander and current president of Syria.
“Russian-Syrian cooperation is developing very actively,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to a question about alleged plans to create a logistical support hub in Tartus to distribute goods imported from Russia throughout Syria.
“Within the framework of contacts with Syrian partners, the issue of Russia’s military presence in Syria is also discussed, including in the context of a possible restructuring of the operation of Russian military facilities.”
Bases in Syria are an integral part of Russia’s military presence around the world: the Tartus naval base is the only repair and resupply hub for Russian warships in the Mediterranean, while Khmeimim is an important outpost for military and mercenary activity in Africa.
Russia intervened militarily in Syria in 2015 and supported Assad in the civil war. Reuters reported in 2024 that Russia had withdrawn forces from the front lines in northern Syria and other positions in the mountains dominated by the Alevi community to which the Assad family belongs, but would not abandon its Mediterranean bases in Khmeimim and Tartus.
Moscow has supported Syria since the early years of the Cold War and has recognized its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to oust French colonial rule. The West has long considered Syria a satellite of the Soviet Union.
