The Estonian Foreign Ministry statement stated that the Green Admire flagged country ship leaving Sillamae port on a planned route through Russian sovereign waters.
"This is certainly related to the fact that we are starting to put pressure on the Russian shadow fleet," Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Estonia's ERR TV station. The Estonian diplomat also said that the country had informed its allies of the incident in which Russia seized a Greek-owned tanker.
Last week, Estonia said it had dispatched a fighter jet over the Baltic Sea as Estonia sought to intercept an oil tanker to Russia.
Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, the West has imposed a series of sanctions on Russian tankers, leading to the giant tankers being accused of helping Russia maintain crude oil exports. These ships are called "shadow fleets" by the West, with ships often having an imprecise ownership structure, without Western insurance or safety certification.
Baltic states are also on high alert after a series of power outages, telecommunication cables and gas pipeline cuts.
According to the ship tracking website Marine Traffic, the Green Admire left Sillamae port at 6:40 p.m. on May 17 and by the afternoon of May 18 had docked near Russia's Hogland Island.
A Greek government official said the Green Admire was moving in Russian waters to avoid shallow waters. Russia blocked Green Admire and moved the ship to a safe place to pay the fine.
Transport data shows that the operator of the Green Admire ship is Aegean Ship Management, headquartered in Greece. One of the ship's main insurance companies is Skuld, headquartered in Norway.
The Estonian Transport Authority said the Green Admire was en route to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, carrying a shipment of Estonian ysteroline. LSEG's ship tracking data shows that the oil tanker with a maximum capacity of 700,000 barrels is almost full.
Estonian authorities added that the route planned to leave Sillamae port through Russian territory was established under an agreement between Estonia, Finland and Russia to avoid shallow waters in Estonian waters.
According to the announcement, ships entering and leaving the port will now be guided through Estonian territory. NATO has not commented on the incident.
A Greek Coast Guard official said that because the Green Admire did not fly the Greek flag, the Greek state had no authority in the incident.
However, a Greek government official revealed to Reuters that Greece has received information related to the Green Admire tanker and is monitoring the incident. Greece has said it is ready to support despite no requests yet.
