Summary
Russia warned of retaliation if the EU seizes more of its “shadow fleet” oil tankers in the Baltic Sea, calling it an attack on Russian territory.
EU countries like Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia are exploring legal ways to detain these vessels, which Russia allegedly uses to evade sanctions and fund its war in Ukraine.
Moscow threatened countermeasures, including boarding Western ships.
Ukraine welcomed the initiative, arguing that disrupting Russia’s oil exports would weaken its war finances. The debate follows Finland’s December seizure of a Russian-linked vessel.
Couldn’t some sort of anti-drag trap be set up where if it catches anyone doing anything, it pulls the ship under…or passively it just gets stuck? Then when they complain…well…you’re the one dragging your anchor along the sea floor like an idiot…
In theory, sure. But I believe that would fall under a booby trap, which is a war crime. I’m not an expert though. I think it’d be very dicy
There’s always the option of just releasing the anchor, so all that would happen is that they’d lose it. It would probably be too expensive to litter the sea floor with traps. Seizing the ships ‘while the investigation is ongoing’ is probably a better strategy.