Russia accused NATO on Tuesday of committing what it described as aggressive actions in Baltic Sea, which impeded freedom of shipping. This came after Estonia attempted to seize and failed to do so a tanker.

Estonia reported on Thursday, last week, that Moscow briefly sent a jet fighter into NATO airspace above the Baltic Sea in an attempt to stop an oil tanker believed to be headed to Russia and part of a shadow fleet defying Western sanctions against Moscow.

When asked about this issue at her weekly press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova responded that Moscow closely monitored events in the Baltic Sea and would respond to what she described as illegal actions by NATO ships if they posed risks. (Reporting and writing by Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Andrew Osborn).

(source: Reuters)