Estonian minister: We will continue to deter Russian shadow fleet vessels

TALLINN - Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said over the weekend that Estonia will continue to work with the countries bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to protect the environment and ensure the safety of shipping and underwater infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland.

"The Russian oil tanker Kiwala was allowed to continue its journey today after the vessel's significant deficiencies were eliminated," Tsahkna said in a press release. "The detention of Russian shadow fleet vessels both in Estonia and recently in Finland shows that such vessels do not go unpunished and that we have the ability to stop them."

The Estonian Navy detained the oil tanker in the Baltic Sea in the early morning of April 11. Immediately after that, an inspection carried out by the Transport Administration identified 40 deficiencies, which is why the vessel was prohibited from continuing its journey until the deficiencies were eliminated. Tsahkna said that the deficiencies related to the detention of the ship have been eliminated, inspected and as a result the ship was released.

"The whole incident confirms once again that there are significant deficiencies in the registers of the so-called flags of convenience countries and the data is not reliable and communication with them is problematic," the Estonian minister said.

The oil tanker Kiwala headed for the Gulf of Finland on April 10 without a valid flag certificate. The ship presented Djibouti as its flag state, but the former flag state Djibouti had withdrawn its flag due to illegal activities. In addition, the tanker lacked insurance and has been sanctioned by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Switzerland. On April 16, Djibouti announced that the ship will still be on the flag state register for a transitional period until May 7 and the ship's certificates will be valid until then.

Estonia was the first country to start inspecting the vessels of the Russian shadow fleet in June and has since requested insurance documents from more than 500 ships.