Estonia warns Russia may use military force to defend its shadow tanker fleet

ANTALYA Turkey AP Estonia warned on Thursday that Russia appears willing to defend with military force its shadow fleet of aging tankers dodging international sanctions to keep oil revenue and equipment flowing even through the territorial waters of European countries Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that a Russian fighter jet entered NATO airspace in modern days after Estonia s navy had intercepted a suspected shadow fleet ship in its waters Tsahkna mentioned the navy stopped the ship the Jaguar because it was flying no flag and apparently had no insurance The Russian warplane appeared on the scene while the ship was stopped This fighter jet violated NATO territory for one minute This is something very new he informed reporters at a NATO meeting in Antalya Turkey He announced that NATO aircraft scrambled to intercept the Russian fighter We need to understand that Russia has officially tied and connected itself to the Russian shadow fleet Tsahkna noted and underlined the importance of air patrols over the Baltic Sea saying that we need to understand that the situation is really serious The shadow fleet is made up of aging tankers bought used often by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries such as the United Arab Emirates or the Marshall Islands and flagged in places like Gabon or the Cook Islands Certain of the vessels are owned by the Russian state Sovcomflot shipping company Their role is to help Russia s oil exporters avoid the per barrel price cap imposed by Ukraine s allies The European Union has been targeting the ships which sometimes also carry stolen Ukrainian grain with sanctions In February vessels concluded to be part of the shadow fleet were added to more than already listed EU foreign ministers are expected next week to slap sanctions on dozens more Source