Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – On Wednesday, the Kremlin stated that Russia would protect its vessels in the Baltic Sea by all means necessary. They highlighted a recent unsuccessful attempt by Estonia to capture a tanker as evidence that Moscow is prepared to take strong measures if provoked to.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused NATO of engaging in aggressive actions in the Baltic Sea, which she claimed hindered shipping freedom following Estonia’s unsuccessful attempt to seize a tanker headed for Russia.
“NATO is trying to present the Baltic Sea as its internal sea,”
She told a weekly briefing in Moscow.
How far will Moscow go to defend its interest in the Baltic Sea?
Today, when asked how Russia could safeguard its shipping interests in the Baltic Sea from what Moscow calls hostile actions by EU member states and Britain, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded to journalists:
“As the latest events related to the attempted pirate attack on one of the tankers showed, Russia demonstrated it is capable of responding quite harshly.”
He stated that Russia was prepared to utilise “all means” available to respond to similar incidents in the future, consistent with international law, and had a broad array of response options at its disposal.
Is the Baltic Sea becoming the next flashpoint between NATO and Russia?
Last Thursday, Estonia reported that Moscow had temporarily deployed a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea. This occurred while Estonia was trying to intercept a Russian-bound oil tanker believed to be part of a “shadow fleet” circumventing Western sanctions against Moscow.
According to Estonia’s foreign minister, Russia’s action against the ship was probably a retaliatory response to the Estonian navy’s efforts to inspect tankers transporting millions of barrels of Russian oil across the Baltic Sea.
On Sunday, Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter following Saudi Arabia, detained a Greek-owned oil tanker in its waters after the vessel departed from an Estonian port. Although the ship has since been released, its detention heightened fears of possible disruptions to shipping in the heavily trafficked Baltic sea lanes used for oil transport.
The detention of the vessel has heightened worries about a possible escalation in the heavily trafficked Baltic Sea lanes, through which significant oil supplies flow, following Estonia’s recent days to halt tankers as part of its enforcement of Western sanctions against Russia.
