Russia warns Europe against the inadmissibility of interfering in the activities of the merchant fleet.
Russia may take action against European countries that interfere with "Shadow Fleet" tanker voyages, possibly including retaliatory actions against the EU's tanker fleet.
"Any claims by NATO, the European Union or their members to control any waters are unacceptable," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "The European Union, after becoming a military bloc (and clearly suffering from delusions of grandeur), remembered the times of slavery and piracy and began to openly seize foreign ships and steal their cargo. To justify this robbery, they invented the term "shadow fleet", which does not exist in international law, and so-called price ceilings."
Lavrov warned that tougher EU sanctions would be met with "looking asymmetric countermeasures". Ukraine's European allies have long been working to counter Russian asymmetric warfare operations, including well-documented cases of the recruitment of Russian spies and subversive groups; UAV harassment and disruption; Russia's covert activity around submarine cables; and at least one bombing attempt at Leipzig Airport, which the German government officially attributed to Russian intelligence services.