Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to seize European-owned ships in retaliation for plans to sell cargo confiscated from vessels linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet.
Several European countries have intercepted ships carrying Russian oil in violation of European sanctions targeting one of Moscow’s key sources of revenue.
New sanctions adopted by the EU last month allow member states to sell oil and other cargo seized from the vessels.
Putin calls seizures ‘piracy’
Moscow has strongly opposed the measures, with Putin describing them as “piracy and banditry”.
“We will be forced to respond in kind,” the Russian president said on Wednesday while overseeing naval exercises in Russia’s Far East.
He added that Moscow would act “wherever we ourselves deem necessary and appropriate – anywhere”.
Swedish court documents, meanwhile, showed that Stockholm will transfer to Kyiv a seized Russian vessel suspected of transporting grain from occupied Ukraine.
Naval drills amid regional tensions
Putin made the comments aboard the Russian cruiser Varyag off Sakhalin, where Russia’s navy was conducting military exercises.
The drills are taking place a week before joint US-South Korean military exercises designed to simulate a possible North Korean invasion.
Tensions remain high in the region amid accusations from Kyiv and Seoul that North Korea and Russia are deepening their military cooperation.
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