The West has heard Putin — Patrushev

The West heard Vladimir Putin's words about the response to attempts to seize Russian merchant ships. This was stated by the assistant to the President of Russia, Chairman of the Maritime Collegium Nikolai Patrushev.

" What we heard is this… But we cannot rule out that this (attempts to seize Russian vessels — EADaily) will happen again in the future", he said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin.

He also said that escorting Russian vessels by ships of the Russian Navy helps protect them from capture by unfriendly states.

Earlier, the Russian president said that Moscow sees attempts by the authorities of some countries to restrict the movement of vessels of Russian economic operators in violation of International Maritime Law. According to him, Russia will mirror any attempts to seize its merchant vessels, will do it in any waters.