MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Estonia’s adoption of legal amendments allowing the country’s navy to use force against foreign vessels was a provocative action that poses risks to shipping and security in the Baltic Sea.
Zakharova said that Russia would react proportionately to instances of aggression against its vessels.
Last week Estonia seized the Kiwala, which has been under EU sanctions since February as part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”, a term Western countries use for ships they say Moscow deploys to circumvent international sanctions. The ships are typically not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers. (This story has been corrected to say that Maria Zakharova was referring to Estonian legislation regarding foreign vessels, not the seizure of ship last week, in the headline and paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Felix Light)
