Russia will defend its ships in the Baltic Sea with all available means, the Kremlin said today, quoted by Reuters, and stressed that Estonia's recent failed attempt to seize a tanker showed that Moscow would respond with firm action if necessary, BTA reports.
Last week, Estonia said that a Russian fighter jet briefly entered NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an Estonian attempt to stop a tanker loaded with Russian oil, believed to be part of the "shadow fleet" evading Western sanctions against Moscow.
Russia, which is the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, on Sunday detained a Greek oil tanker in Russian waters after it had sailed from an Estonian port, Estonian public broadcaster Eer reported.
The detention of the vessel, which was later released by Russia, raised concerns about a possible disruption of shipping in the busy Baltic Sea corridors used for transporting oil.
Asked what Russia could do to protect its shipping interests in the Baltic Sea from "hostile actions by EU countries and Britain", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "As the recent events related to the attempted pirate attack on one of our ships have shown, Russia has demonstrated its ability to respond quite firmly".
Peskov added that Moscow was ready to use "all means" at its disposal to respond to similar incidents in the future in accordance with international law.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova today accused NATO of carrying out "aggressive actions" in the Baltic Sea that impede freedom of navigation after Estonia tried and failed to seize a Russian tanker.