The Estonian Foreign Ministry reported that Russia had detained an oil tanker owned by Greece on Sunday, after it left a Baltic Sea port in Estonia. It also said it had alerted NATO of the incident.

In a press release, the Ministry of Transport said that a Liberian-flagged vessel called Green Admire left Sillamae using a navigation channel designated to cross Russian territorial waters.

Margus Tsahkna, Foreign Minister Margus said: "Today's event shows that Russia continues its unpredictable behavior." "I've also informed our Allies about the incident."

Marine Traffic, an online vessel tracking website, reports that the Green Admire left Sillamae on Saturday at 18:40 GMT and was anchored on Sunday near Russia's Hogland Island.

According to the Estonian Transport Administration, the ship was headed for Rotterdam and carrying a cargo of shale-oil from Estonia.

According to the Estonian administration, an agreement was reached between Estonia, Finland, and Russia, which established a navigation channel from Sillamae that passes through Russian territorial waters, in order to avoid the shallows of the Estonian waters.

It added that vessels entering and leaving the port would now be guided by Estonian territorial water.

NATO countries claim that Russia has been attempting to evade the sanctions, and sabotage cables and pipelines undersea.

Estonia reported on Thursday that Russia sent a fighter plane into NATO airspace above the Baltic Sea in an attempt to stop what was believed to be a Russia bound tanker, which was part of a'shadow fleet.' This is a Russian tactic to avoid sanctions. (Reporting and editing by Philippa Fetcher and Peter Graff; Reporting by Andrius Sytas)

(source: Reuters)