(Bloomberg) — Estonia’s navy stopped and boarded a sanctioned, Russia-bound vessel in the Baltic Sea on Friday over its insurance status and suspicions that the vessel belonged to Moscow’s shadow fleet, which facilitates the illicit trade in Russian oil.
The tanker, Kiwala, with 24 people aboard including a Chinese captain, is currently anchored in Estonian territorial waters and has previously been sanctioned by the EU and others for illegal activity, said Estonian Naval Commander Ivo Vark at a press conference in Tallinn on Friday.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the Kiwala was the first shadow fleet vessel detained by Estonia and that its detention proved that coordinated efforts to tackle the illicit trade in Russian oil were paying off.
The Baltic Sea has become a flashpoint in recent months after the detention of several vessels on suspicion of tearing up undersea telecommunications cables. Baltic nations have also increased scrutiny of unregistered ‘shadow’ tankers due to concerns about sanctioned Russian oil, with Estonia regularly checking passing vessels’ insurance status since last year.
The Kiwala was due to load at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia before it was detained, shipping data seen by Bloomberg show.
“We initially had reason to suspect that the ship lacked a flag country and insurance,” Vark told the press conference. “Such vessels are not actually permitted to travel,” said Deputy Chief of Police Veiko Kommusaar at the same event.
Estonian authorities said that the detention of the Kiwala was not related to damage to undersea infrastructure.
–With assistance from Julian Lee.
(Updates with ship tracking data in fifth paragraph)
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