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Russia threatens to send naval forces to protect its ships from "Western piracy." Blocking the "shadow fleet" is illegal, a senior official said, raising the possibility of retaliation against European ships...
Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is putting the Russian Navy on combat alert, issuing an ultimatum that is causing concern in the West. With European powers engaged in a surge in “maritime piracy” against Russian ships, Moscow is signaling that the limits of its patience have been exhausted.
"We will break the blockade," Patrushev warned, making it clear that the Western narrative about Russia's "shadow fleet" is a legal construct from Brussels aimed at undermining Russian sovereignty.
Patrushev, a former FSB director and head of Russia's maritime council, said on Tuesday that the country's navy must be ready to confront what he called "Western piracy."
"If this situation cannot be resolved peacefully, the navy will break any blockade and act to lift it. And let's not forget that many ships sail the sea under European flags and we may be interested in what they are carrying and where they are going," he told the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty.
Russia stressed that it must give a tough response, especially to Britain, France and the Baltic states.
"If we don't give them a tough response, then soon the British, the French and even the Baltic states will be so discouraged that they will try to block our country's access to the seas, at least in the Atlantic basin," he said, among other things.
"In key maritime areas, including those far from Russia, significant forces must be permanently deployed, forces capable of 'freezing' the enthusiasm of Western pirates," he added.
The West has hit the Russian economy with sanctions and in recent months has tried to block tankers suspected of being involved in Russian oil shipments. In January, the US seized a Russian-flagged tanker in an attempt to restrict Venezuelan oil exports.
Patrushev added that any attempt to impose a naval blockade on Russia would be illegal under international law, arguing that the EU's use of the term "shadow fleet" had no legal basis.
The term “shadow fleet” refers to about 1,500 old or lightly regulated tankers operating under shadowy ownership structures to help Russia export crude oil to buyers such as China and India, bypassing Western sanctions. More than 600 ships have been targeted by the EU, the UK and the US. The measures have helped to limit Russian oil revenues.
Patrushev's comments came as British Defense Secretary John Healy met with European counterparts on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss possible steps to seize tankers linked to Russia's secret fleet.
Despite mounting political pressure, European governments have struggled to develop a coherent legal mechanism for physically stopping or seizing ships, relying instead on sanctions, insurance restrictions and inspections. Western allies have warned that ships without proper documentation could be treated as stateless vessels, potentially widening the scope for intervention at sea.
Earlier this year, the French navy briefly detained a tanker suspected of operating within the shadow fleet before allowing it to continue its journey. In recent months, the US has taken steps to impose physical sanctions and seize several tankers linked to shadow fleets carrying oil from Russia, Venezuela and sanctioned Iran.
However, Patrushev's comments appear to focus mainly on Europe, suggesting the Kremlin is wary of escalating tensions with Washington as delicate negotiations over Ukraine continue. Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are expected to meet in Geneva on Tuesday for the latest round of high-stakes talks hosted by the Trump administration, as the fourth anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches.
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