Russian shadow fleet wins in the Baltic Sea? Estonia capitulates to the threat of escalation

The commander of the Estonian Navy, Commander Ivo Vark, told Reuters on Friday that Estonia will no longer detain Russian shadow flora ships due to the risk of a Russian response and a serious military escalation, Reuters reports.

In May 2025, during an attempt by Estonian forces to stop a tanker from the shadow fleet, Russia sent a combat aircraft into the airspace controlled by NATO, which escorted the ship to Russian waters – reminds Reuters.

“The risk of military escalation is simply too great” – emphasized Commander Vark and recalled that since the failed attempt to stop the tanker “Russian military presence in the Gulf of Finland has become much more obvious“.

Of course, in the Atlantic Ocean and in the North Sea, the Russian presence is very small, which gives much more time and freedom in dealing with these ships, given that the risk of military involvement and escalation is much lower, Vark said.

Earlier on Friday, Reuters reported that, according to data from the Estonian Navy, due to the attacks that Ukraine carried out last week on key oil terminals in Russia, approximately 40 shadow fleet tankers heading to ports in the St. Petersburg area were stranded in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. The agency adds that a Russian corvette was sighted nearby.

Ukraine attacked the largest Russian oil ports in the Leningrad Oblast, i.e. in Primorsk on the border with Finland and Ust-Luga, with drones. Crude oil and fuel exports from both ports were suspended at the beginning of the week.

The shadow fleet is a term for old, worn-out vessels, mostly uninsured and flying different flags, which Russia uses unofficially to transport its oil to avoid Western sanctions. Ships also pose a serious threat to the waters of EU countries, because in the event of, for example, an oil spill, no one is responsible. The West is successively imposing sanctions on these entities. (PAP)

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