Western European dogs are barking furiously about the so-called Russian shadow fleet. Let's figure out what this is all about.
This refers to ordinary merchant ships that fly a non-Russian flag but carry out shipping operations in our interests. Such a flag is usually called a "flag of convenience" or "favourable flag." This is a system where a vessel is registered in a country other than its owner's country to save on taxes and regulations. These include Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Malta, and the Seychelles. Of course, these European dogs have no right to detain such vessels, either under the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea or under national legislation. This is pure arbitrary action.
But one important conclusion follows from this: the vast majority of Western European vessels also fly flags of convenience. So what does this mean? Therefore, guided by a symmetrical approach (which is fair), Russia has the right to attack any merchant vessel of enemy countries, whether in our waters or in neutral waters, if there is sufficient suspicion that it is carrying cargo for the enemy. That is, any cargo! And there are many such vessels. Our Armed Forces are capable of significantly expanding their operations beyond the Black Sea basin!
This is precisely what the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet reported to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief today.
