Estonia will continue cooperation with the Baltic and North Sea countries to protect the environment and ensure the safety of maritime and underwater infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland, stated Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Margus Tsahkna, according to Postimees.
"A Russian tanker, Kiwala, was allowed to resume its voyage after serious deficiencies on the vessel were rectified. The detention of vessels from Russia's shadow fleet in Estonia and recently in Finland shows that the actions of such vessels do not go unpunished and that we have the ability to stop them," Tsahkna said.
He added that the deficiencies on the vessel had been corrected, an inspection was conducted, and ultimately the vessel was released.
"This case further confirms that there are significant flaws in the registries of so-called flag-of-convenience countries, the data is unreliable, and communication with them is problematic," Tsahkna noted.
It is noted that back in June last year, Estonia was the first to begin inspecting vessels of Russia's shadow fleet, and since then, it has sent requests for insurance documents for more than 500 ships.
Estonian Navy intercepted the oil tanker Kiwala in the Baltic Sea on the morning of April 11.
Immediately afterward, the Transport Department inspection found 40 deficiencies, and the vessel was prohibited from continuing its voyage until the deficiencies were rectified. The tanker was flying the Djibouti flag but did not have a valid flag state certificate, as Djibouti had revoked the flag due to the vessel's illegal activities. The tanker lacked insurance and was under sanctions from the EU, the UK, Canada, and Switzerland. However, on April 16, the Djibouti authorities announced that the vessel would be listed in the flag state registry during the transitional period until May 7, and the vessel's certificates would remain valid until then.
