MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday threatened retaliation for Western seizures of his commercial vessels, calling them “piracy.” During a visit to a Russian warship taking part in a naval exercise in the Pacific, Putin described Western moves to detain ships linked to Russia as a violation of international maritime law. “It’s nothing more than piracy and theft,” Putin said. “If this is done, we will be forced to respond in kind.” He added that the Russian response would not necessarily come in the waters where the Russian ships were captured, noting that Moscow could retaliate “in any area where we consider it necessary and appropriate,” including the Pacific. The head of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Viktor Liina, informed Putin that the navy was ready to begin inspections of commercial ships serving “hostile nations.” He noted that many of the ships operated by British, French and other European carriers fly the flags of other nations, effectively making them a “shadow fleet.” “We have enough resources to inspect and detain the ships of hostile nations and their shadow fleet,” Liina told Putin. “We are ready to start carrying out the task.” Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade international sanctions imposed after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. France and the United Kingdom have detained oil tankers suspected of belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” that was transporting oil in violation of international sanctions. The EU has sanctioned hundreds of ships in the “shadow fleet.” Russia has recently begun deploying warships to escort its commercial vessels. Dmitry Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 to allow Putin to observe term limits and is now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, noted that many ships belonging to European carriers fly so-called “flags of convenience” just as Russian carriers do. It’s fair, Russia has the right to attack any merchant ship belonging to hostile nations, whether in our waters or in neutral waters, as long as there are reasonable grounds to suspect that it is carrying cargo in the interests of the enemy, and that applies to any cargo,” Medvedev said. “There are many such ships and our military is capable of dramatically expanding its operations far beyond the Black Sea basin.”
