According to Estonia’s Transport Department, the vessel was intercepted after it entered Russia’s territorial waters. The agency said it had not received official information about the reasons for the detention or the scope of the inspection.
According to VesselFinder, the cargo ship departed Sweden on September 29 and was due to arrive in Sillamäe on Thursday evening. After the inspection, the vessel was allowed to continue, but Russian border guards asked it to wait, and Västerbotten remained at anchor.
The route through this section of the Gulf of Finland is covered by an agreement between Russia, Estonia, and Finland. It is used because it is considered safer than the channel between the shoals in Estonian territorial waters.
The incident occurred against the backdrop of an order by Russian President Vladimir Putin to detain Western vessels in response to similar actions by European authorities against Russian tankers. Putin called this a response to “piracy and robbery”.
Since the beginning of the year, EU and UK authorities have detained at least nine tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet, which is used to transport oil in обход sanctions. On August 30, the vessel Sun was stopped and inspected, and on July 20 — MV South Star.
France intercepted the tankers Grinch, Deyna, and Tagor, and then released them. Britain has been holding the vessel Smyrtos with 100,000 tons of oil since June 14, the tanker Ethera remains in Belgium, and Sea Owl I and Jin Hui are in Sweden. In March, Sweden detained the cargo ship Caffa in the Baltic Sea, which, according to Kyiv, was transporting grain from occupied territories; in August, Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled that the vessel be handed over to Ukraine.
Sources
