By Andrius Sytas
TALLINN (Reuters) -Russia detained a Greek-owned oil tanker on Sunday after it left an Estonian Baltic Sea port, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said, adding it had alerted NATO allies to the incident.
The Liberia-flagged ship Green Admire was leaving Sillamae port using a designated navigation channel that crosses Russian territorial waters, the ministry said in a statement.
“Today’s incident shows that Russia continues to behave unpredictably,” said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. “I have also informed our allies of the event.”
Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Western sanctions have also led to a vast “shadow fleet” of tankers crossing the sea to help Moscow keep its crude oil exports flowing.
Only last week, Estonia said Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet over the Baltic Sea during Estonia’s attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker.
The Green Admire had departed Sillamae port on Saturday at 18:40 GMT, and on Sunday afternoon was at one point anchored near Russia’s Hogland Island, according to Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessels.
A Greek government official said the ship had manoeuvred in Russian waters to avoid shallows and that the Russians had intercepted it and moved it to a safe place to impose a fine.
Shipping data showed the vessel’s operator was Athens-based Aegean Ship Management and one of its key insurers was listed as Norway-based Skuld. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ship was bound for Rotterdam with a load of Estonia’s shale oil, the Estonian Transport Administration said.
The navigation channel out of Sillamae through Russian territorial waters has been set up under an agreement between Estonia, Finland and Russia to avoid shallows in the Estonian waters, the administration said.
Vessels sailing into and out of the port will now be guided through Estonian territorial waters, it added.
NATO did not immediately comment on the incident.
A Greek coast guard official said that, since the vessel was not Greek-flagged, the Greek state had no authority on it.
However, a Greek government official said Greece was aware and was monitoring the case. The official said Athens had stated its availability to assist, though no request to do so had been submitted.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, additional reporting by Jonathan Saul, Yannis Souliotis and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Peter Graff and David Holmes)
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