Russia detains vessel bound for Estonia’s Sillamäe port — ERR News

In the Gulf of Finland, the border service of Russia, an aggressor state, detained the Cyprus-flagged cargo vessel Västerbotten, which was bound for the Estonian port of Sillamäe. This was reported by ERR News. The detention of the vessel was confirmed by Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board.

Vessel is anchored in Russian waters

According to the VesselFinder service, Västerbotten is anchored in Russian waters. The trajectory displayed in the application indicates that the vessel passed through Russia’s territorial waters before being detained.

Russia, Estonia and Finland have an agreement allowing vessels to pass through this section. This route is safer for large vessels than navigating between shoals in Estonia’s maritime zone.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Previous incident

In 2025, Russia detained the oil tanker Green Admire, which had departed from the port of Sillamäe. According to ERR News, this was the first such case.

After that, Estonia’s Transport Administration decided to subsequently route vessels bound for Sillamäe or departing from this port through Estonia’s territorial sea.