Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to retaliate against any European Union moves to seize his country’s commercial ships, calling such actions “piracy.”
As part of a new sanctions package last month, the bloc approved a mechanism allowing member states to sell oil and other goods seized from sanctioned vessels detained at sea. European countries and the UK have boarded, detained or seized several Russia-linked or so-called shadow-fleet vessels since late 2024.
“We see that the authorities of some countries, in violation of international maritime law, are trying to restrict the movement of ships,” Putin said Wednesday during Pacific Fleet exercises in Russia’s Far East. “Recently, they even came up with the idea of seizing our vessels and selling property looted from us. Of course, this is nothing other than piracy and robbery.”
Read more: Oman Says Spill From Grounded Shadow Oil Tanker Covers 400 Square Kilometers
Putin said Russia would respond in kind, and not necessarily in the same waters where Russian vessels could be targeted but anywhere “we ourselves consider it necessary and appropriate.”
The US, the UK and the EU have sanctioned hundreds of tankers for helping Russia export oil to fund the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
Western countries themselves are increasingly using vessels sailing under third-country flags to transport their cargoes, according to Viktor Liina, commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet.
“In effect, this is their shadow fleet,” Liina said. “We have the forces needed to inspect and detain vessels belonging to unfriendly states and their shadow fleet. Interagency coordination is in place. We are ready to begin carrying out these tasks.”
Photograph: A suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker intercepted by the French Navy near the port of Marseille-Fos in March; photo credit: Thibaud Moritz/AFP/Getty Images
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