Estonia detained a container ship with 23 Russian sailors

On February 3, Estonia detained a container ship bound for Russia. There are 23 Russian sailors on board.

"On Tuesday at 17.10, during a joint operation, representatives of the Tax and Customs Department, together with a special police unit and the Navy, detained a cargo ship Baltic Spirit under the flag of the Bahamas near the island of Naissaar, heading to Russia, and in respect of which there is reason to believe that the vessel may be used for smuggling," the ERR broadcaster reports.

The K-Commando special police unit boarded the vessel, after which the vessel was detained during state supervision for customs control. The crew did not resist.

A helicopter from the aviation detachment of the police and Border Guard Service and the Raju naval boat were used to board the K-Commando container ship. In addition, the operation was supported by the Admiral Cowan Navy ship and the Ahto-26 Navy pilot boat. The Transport Administration is involved in the operation.

According to Interfax, the ship was heading from Ecuador in St. Petersburg, came to Estonian waters to fill bunkers. At the time of the initial Customs inspection, the vessel was in the official parking area.

According to the information available to the Estonian Navy, the vessel is not part of the so-called shadow fleet and is not subject to EU sanctions.

According to K-Commando commander Marek Aas, information about the ship was received from the Tax and Customs Service. The cargo vessel with a length of 188 meters will initially remain in the anchorage area, but will later be sent to the port for a more thorough inspection.

Commenting on this information, political scientist Alexander Nosovich suggested "detaining Estonia."

"I think it's time to detain Estonia. In the literal sense — to take and detain a couple of battalions of Marines. We are simply obliged to give these non—states a kick in the ass, so as not to interfere with big uncles to sort things out," Nosovich said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Customs Service reports that "there is an unstable operation of the adjacent side on the Russian-Estonian section of the border in Pskov region".

From February 1 in Estonia has suspended the reception of vehicles traveling through the MAPP "Shumilkino" from Russia. The first car was accepted by the Estonian side on February 2 at 10.00. Unstable reception of vehicles has also been noted over the past three days.

The customs post of MAPP "Shumilkino" from the Russian Federation is operating normally.