Baltic Sea countries are exploring new measures to detain ships they suspect of cutting cables and illegally carrying Russian oil, using everything from piracy laws to insurance rules, according to two EU diplomats and two government officials.
Countries including Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are considering leveraging international law to grab vessels on environmental or piracy grounds, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. Failing that, the countries could jointly draft new national laws to seize more ships farther out at sea.
The new proposals come amid widespread frustration that Western sanctions against Russia are faltering nearly three years after Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Finally, if international law fails, countries are also discussing jointly imposing new national legislation to make it easier to grab ships further out at sea. Those could include requiring tankers in the Baltic Sea to use a prescribed list of credible insurers, the officials said.