Proposals by Minister for Defence Helen McEntee for Defence Forces personnel to board sanctioned Russian vessels are “unacceptable” and would amount to “piracy”, Moscow’s ambassador to Ireland has said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday, McEntee said such a move is being considered as a “deterrent” following an increase in vessels transporting sanctioned Russian oil through Irish economic waters.
This group of several hundred ships, known as the shadow fleet, often operate with false country registrations or no registration at all and are sometimes in poor mechanical condition.
“Shadow fleets are essentially extremely old oil tankers that Russia [is] using to transport and sell oil to essentially fund this devastating war that is still ongoing,” said the Minister, speaking from the Munich Security Conference.
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McEntee said she is not suggesting Irish authorities seize the ships, as France and the US have done in recent months. Instead, they would be boarded and inspected by military personnel under the laws of the sea.
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The UK has also promised to step up boardings of shadow fleet vessels in its waters.
McEntee said the proposals arose from discussions at the security conference in Munich and that details have to be worked out with other Government departments.
“Firstly, Russia has never threatened Ireland and its people – to claim the opposite would be wrong and misleading," Russian ambassador Yuriy Filatov said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The notion of the ‘Russian threat’ is certainly an illusion, and a dangerous one.”
He called McEntee’s comments “remarkable, unprecedented and unacceptable”.
“The Irish Cabinet Minister threatening Russian civilian ships with the illegal hostile actions which, one would hope, she knows is an act of piracy under international maritime law, with the most serious consequences.
“Now, that is the real reason for the Irish public to be worried. The Irish Government should really reflect on where such reckless and thoughtless line could lead.”
McEntee’s comments mirror tougher rhetoric from other EU leaders regarding the shadow fleet.
In response, Moscow officials have suggesting deploying the Russian navy to protect the vessels from European seizures.
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Nikolai Patrushev, a former FSB director who heads Russia’s maritime board, said on Tuesday that the country’s navy should be ready to counter what he described as “western piracy”.
“If this situation cannot be resolved peacefully, the navy will break any blockade and move to eliminate it. And let’s not forget that many vessels sail the seas under European flags – we, too, may take an interest in what they are carrying and where they are headed,” he told the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty.
Patrushev added that any attempt to impose a maritime blockade on Russia would be illegal under international law, claiming that the EU’s use of the term “shadow fleet” had no legal basis.
