Estonia Detains Baltic Spirit Vessel With Contraband For Russia: New Details
- 4.02.2026, 14:14
The commandos and the Navy were in action.
The Estonian Navy detained the Barbados-flagged ship Baltic Spirit, which was carrying cargo to the Russian Federation. The special operation was carried out with the involvement of the police and it is suspected that the ship was carrying smuggled goods to Russia.
The detention took place around 5 p.m. on February 3 and was carried out by members of the police unit K-commando, a helicopter of the aviation squadron, naval ships Raju and Admiral Cowan, pilotage vessel Ahto-26, Estonian media outlet ERR reported. The event took place in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Naissar. The ship was flying the flag of the Bahamas, but all 23 sailors on board were citizens of the Russian Federation.
About 50 people were involved in the operation to seize the Baltic Spirit vessel with a Russian crew, the article said. Law enforcers and the military approached the ship, which was just refueling with fuel, water and other resources. The sailors offered no resistance and allowed the Estonians to search the ship.
"The operation was peaceful," assured the head of K-commando Marek Aas.
Law enforcers said the reason for the detention was smuggling drugs that were being brought to Russia from Ecuador. At the same time, the commander of the police unit that carried out the assault assured that the vessel did not belong to the "shadow fleet" of the Russian Federation and was not under EU sanctions.
"It was not a vessel from the shadow fleet of the Russian Federation, nor was it a vessel under the sanctions of the European Union. For us, the main focus of the operation was that it was probably smuggling," the officer said.
Ship Detention - Details
Baltic Spirit is a Barbados-flagged container ship. Monitoring portals have information about two ships with this name. One, with IMO 9592678, was in the Black Sea four days ago, traveling from Istanbul to the port of Sulima (Romania). The second, with IMO 9765873, is indeed off the Baltic coast. There is indeed no information about imposing sanctions, but there is a report about detention for maritime traffic violation in June 2014.