Alarm rang today (11.04.2025) in the morning at Estonia When the country’s naval forces found a suspected oil tanker Russia.
The competent authorities and services were directly mobilized with Port and Navy forces deploying in the area, thus seizing the tanker, with Estonia announcing that the ship was illegally sailing without a valid country flag.
In fact, the ship called “Kiwala” is under EU sanctions From February as part of the so -called ‘shadowy fleet » her Russia, term they use Western countries for ships whichas they say, Moscow, develops to bypass international sanctions.
The These ships are usually not subject to regime or insured by conventional western providers.
Kiwala was heading to Russia at the time of arrest, according to Marinetraffic. He had a flag of Djibouti, but an Estonian transport official said Djibouti denied that he was registered there.
The Reuters was not immediately able to contact Djibouti’s authorities for comments. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for annotation.
“Early this morning, the Estonian Navy arrested a ship imposed a penalties without a state flag,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said in a post on social media.
“Estonia is very seriously facing suspicious activities in the Baltic Sea,” he added.
In inclusion of the ship in the sanction register in February, The EU said it is involved in transporting Russian oil “while applying irregular and high risk of maritime practices”.
«Due to the suspicions that the ship had no flag, the Estonian authorities reacted. The crew and the captain were cooperatives, ” said Christian Trouu, director of the Estonian Transport Maritime Authority.
The operation involved ships and helicopters of the Navy and the ship inspected, while the Estonia talks to the Jimbut To confirm the details, Trouu said.
Michal had warned in December that the tankers of the shadow fleet could have been inspected if they did not provide proof of insurance.
There were no reports of damage to submarine cables or other equipment. Countries in the region have accused Moscow of using ships to hit underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea in recent years.