Pirate program: EU discusses military mission to seize ships in the Baltic and the North Sea

Brussels is considering the possibility of creating a special naval mission to seize tankers linked to Russia, Izvestia found out. A possible new European operation will operate in the Baltic and North Seas. The decision to launch the initiative requires unanimity in the EU Council, which will not be easy to achieve, experts say. Earlier, the European Union had already reoriented the IRINI mission in the Mediterranean to combat circumvention of restrictions. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stressed that, if necessary, they are ready to provide military escort for merchant vessels.

The new EU mission against Russia

The European Union is preparing new measures to counter the maritime transportation of Russian oil. To do this, Brussels is considering the creation of a special naval mission in the Baltic and North Seas, Fernand Kartheiser, a member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg, told Izvestia.

— The EU is discussing a more offensive approach in the fight against the so-called shadow fleet... The issue of creating a special naval mission of the Union is being considered. In this case, for obvious geographical reasons, it would be easiest for the EU to focus on the Baltic and North Seas," the MEP said.

Photo: Global Look Prerss/Sina Schuldt/dpa

A European source confirmed to Izvestia that "the creation of a new mechanism to combat circumvention of sanctions" is being discussed. According to another source, the proposal to form a new mission may be announced in the fall. The editorial board sent a request to the European Commission.

A naval mission in the Baltic, if launched, would be a serious encroachment on freedom of navigation and would actually turn into a naval blockade, MEP Thierry Mariani said in an interview with Izvestia.

"This would be another step towards conflict with Russia at a time when the EU should be doing the exact opposite: looking for peace, not new reasons for escalation," the politician said.

Earlier, Brussels redirected its IRINI naval mission to counter maritime shipping in the interests of Russia. The head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, announced in June that the operation had changed the rules of engagement and now allowed the seizure of ships. In early August, the mission conducted an inspection of the ship Tao Payoh under the flag of Cameroon. In addition to IRINI, the European Union has two more military missions. ATALANTA operates in the Indian Ocean, its mission is to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Operation ASPIDES is aimed at protecting merchant ships from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

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Individual EU member states or the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy may propose the creation of a new mission. The decision to launch the operation must be taken unanimously by the EU Council, which determines the mission's mandate.: its tasks, composition and area of responsibility. Not only Slovakia, whose authorities are in favor of dialogue with Moscow, can speak out against it, but also Greece. Given that the country owns 20% of the world's merchant fleet, it is unlikely to support new measures against shipping. However, Brussels will use the issue of combating sanctions circumvention to centralize decision-making and create its own armed forces, Olli Kotro, adviser on international Affairs and EU relations for the Finnish Alliance for Freedom party, told Izvestia.

Photo: Global Look Prerss/Elisa Schu/dpa

The more actively the mission is positioned as a hunt for Russian tankers, the more difficult it will be for its participants to reach a consensus. This will create more disagreements and security problems than a mission that, for example, is based on monitoring and ensuring the stability of underwater infrastructure, like the Baltic Sentinel, Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies, told Izvestia.

The most likely option is not a completely new large flotilla with a permanent right to seize ships, but a regional mission of maritime security and law enforcement, Pavel Anisimov, Deputy director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences of the Russian State University of Civil Engineering, said in an interview with Izvestia. In any case, international maritime law does not give grounds to stop a merchant ship on the high seas just because it is under EU sanctions or is transporting Russian oil. Therefore, such actions would be illegal, the expert stressed.

Composition of a possible EU operation

Previously, some countries in the region detained vessels that allegedly act in the interests of Russia. Sweden is particularly active, with its representatives intercepting the Caffa vessel in March and Jin Hui in May. Denmark, which controls the passage from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, plays a key role. Although Copenhagen has not yet hindered navigation, Danish special forces are already practicing the seizure of oil tankers.

Jin Hui Ship

Photo: Global Look Prerss/Johan Nilsson /TT

If launched, the Baltic and North Sea states that have already participated in the joint NB8++ format will probably become participants in the new EU mission: Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This circle is important not only politically: key routes for Russian oil exports pass through its offshore zones, Anisimov stressed.

However, the core of the operation will be the Navies of Germany, France and Sweden, as well as the UK, which is not part of the EU. Britain and France have already noted illegal detentions of ships, and London is considering the option of selling oil seized on the Smyrtos tanker.

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The strengthening of the United Kingdom's role in the Baltic is also evidenced by the fact that the United Kingdom's joint expeditionary force can replace NATO troops in the event of a conflict in Northern Europe, said the Commander-in-chief of the British Navy, General Gwyn Jenkins. The fleets of the other EU member states in this region are mainly focused on patrolling and coastal defense and will not risk acting without the support of major Western European countries.

Russia's response

Moscow has already demonstrated in the past its willingness to protect freedom of navigation in the Baltic. In May 2025, in the neutral waters of the Gulf of Finland, NATO aircraft and the Estonian Navy tried to seize a civilian JAGUAR ship that was heading to Primorsk under the flag of Gabon. According to Estonian media, NATO forces abandoned attempts to seize the ship after a Russian Su-35 fighter jet flew to the scene of the incident.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Alexey Maishev

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced that Russia is ready to take retaliatory measures in case of seizure of vessels. According to the head of state, such actions by the West are "nothing but piracy and robbery." Moscow will mirror such actions, and not necessarily in the same part of the World Ocean, Putin stressed. The new EU military mission could seriously increase the risk of an unexpected escalation with Russia, Olli Cotro believes. According to him, any actions directed against shipping will face Russian countermeasures.

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According to Tigran Meloyan, one of Moscow's response measures to this initiative could be the creation of a permanent regional maritime task force with the ability to deploy unmanned aerial, surface and underwater systems to constantly monitor the maritime activity of NATO countries in the Baltic Sea and protect tankers with Russian cargo from attempts to hijack them.

The detention of ships by EU countries can hit them like a boomerang, said Artem Studennikov, director of the First European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fernand Kartheiser stresses that the EU remains heavily dependent on imports of Russian fossil energy resources at the very moment when it is "discussing enforcement of its sanctions against these energy resources on the high seas." In addition, the EU's pressure on third countries will worsen its international image and may lead to retaliatory actions by these states, the politician believes.

Photo: Global Look Prerss/Alicia Windzio/dpa

The discussion of launching a new military mission in the Baltic and North Seas highlights the change in Brussels' policy. The European leadership is shifting the focus from introducing new restrictions to monitoring compliance with the old ones.