The Troubled Baltic: will the detentions of tankers lead to an escalation between Russia and the EU

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Forbes on the reasons for Russia's detention of an Estonian tanker in its territorial waters of the Baltic Sea.

"In principle, Russia could just as well stop any other ship with Estonian cargo, not necessarily a tanker, just a tanker — this is an ideal demonstration that the game of stopping ships can be played by two sides," Alexey Gromov says. — It seems to me that in this situation Russia is guided by the diplomatic principle of reciprocity, that is, it shows that it will not remain silent and will not tolerate the detention of its oil tankers without any retaliatory actions, which Estonia has set a precedent for. And, accordingly, it will take symmetrical measures."

According to Gromov, Russia chooses the tactics of "strategic patience" and defending its interests with minimal impact on other countries in the Baltic region, where, he believes, there is a blatant violation of maritime law and attempts are being made to provoke Russia into an inadequate response.