Patrushev called Estonia the initiator of the decision to sink suspicious merchant ships

Estonia is the main initiator of statements suggesting that the army and navy sink suspicious merchant vessels in the Baltic Sea. On April 11, Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Maritime Board, told Izvestia.

"The initiator or the one who made the statement is Estonia. We need to understand who supports them. Because I don't think all the Western countries supported them in this. I think, most likely, these are European countries. I can assume that it is the United Kingdom, but I don't have any exact information," he said.

On April 9, the Estonian Parliament approved amendments to the laws on the Defense Forces and on the economic zone, granting the armed forces the right to sink suspicious civilian vessels. According to the idea of the Estonian legislators, this can be done if the vessel is suspected of intending to damage underwater cables or other underwater infrastructure facilities.

Pirates of the Baltic Sea: Estonia is going to sink merchant ships

Such a law will be considered in the first reading by the country's parliament.

Earlier that day, in Muuga Bay, near the island of Aenga, the Estonian Defense Forces detained the tanker Kiwala, which was heading to Russia. At the same time, the commander of the Estonian Navy, Commodore Ivo Vark, explained that the purpose of the detention was to check the documents and the legal status of the vessel.