Estonia said the ship was seized by Russia with the flag of country when it left Estonia's Sillamae port, traveling on a pre-agreed itinerary across Russian territory.
The incident came just days after tallinn authorities attempted to check a ship that was not flagged and not insured, suspected to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" - a Western term used to refer to a network of oil tankers operating outside international insurance and surveillance systems to circumvent the oil embargo after the Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022.
In a statement on May 18, the Estonian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the Green Admire - owned by a Greek company - had been detained by Russia while leaving Estonian waters. The ship follows a route agreed by the three sides of Russia, Estonia and Finland to avoid dangerous shallow water areas, in accordance with international maritime procedures.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stressed: This action is clearly a response from Russia after we began testing their shadow fleet vessels.
He revealed that last week, Estonia tried to test a suspicious ship in its exclusive economic zone - which had no flags, no insurance and could be violating UK sanctions against Russia. Notably, during this process, a Russian fighter jet entered Estonian airspace to escort the ship, according to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
The incident further increased maritime tensions in the Baltic region, where NATO has recently increased its military presence, after accusing Russia of being behind a series of undersea cable sabotage incidents.
On the Russian side, Nikolay Patrushev, a senior assistant to President Vladimir Putin and chairman of the Russian Maritime Council, recently warned the EU and the UK to be on the brink of establishing a maritime blockade. He affirmed that if diplomatic and legal tools are ineffective, Russia is ready to deploy navel forces to protect national maritime interests.
With increasingly tightened sanctions and the Baltic Sea becoming a new hot spot between the East and the West, the incident between Russia and Estonia is unlikely to be the last.
