A Russian warship fired warning shots at a dry cargo ship in the Black Sea on Sunday, after the Russian defence ministry said it intercepted the Palau-flagged “Sukru Okan” ship heading towards Ukraine.
I’m not sure Russia wants to start sinking 3rd party shipping in international waters destined for NATO countries.
Edit:
Palau-flagged “Sukru Okan” ship
shipping data showed the ship was heading north towards the coast of Bulgaria
I think at this point Russia can basically do whatever it wants in international waters. NATO isn’t going to go to war with Russia unless it has to. Damaging or even sinking a cargo ship would be another escalation but I’m not sure what possible retaliatory measures remain. All the sanctions are already in place.
There are still many economic sanctions that could be imposed and the existing ones can and should be tightened.
But the issue of threatened ships can be easily solved by assigning NATO escorts. AFAIK Turkiye declared their navy is going to do that (escort cargo ships on the Black sea) but I don’t know how it went
What economic sanctions are left? Genuine question. I don’t know. But I am under the impression anything that would have any effect is already being done. The west could completely economically cut off Russia, and Russia would just continue exporting to the rest of the world.
The US has also sent aircraft escorts with several cargo ships in the Black Sea as well.
Depends on if NATO decides to start escorting ships in international waters and Russia goes full pants-on-head stupid and does something to an escort and that country decides to invoke article 5.
At this point Putin is acting like a spoiled kid, who is beating on his little sister for no reason, while mom and dad stand by and watch because they’re scared of him.
Damaging or even sinking a cargo ship would be another escalation but I’m not sure what possible retaliatory measures remain.
NATO countries escorting cargo ships. I’m not even talking about US, French, or UK ships. Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey are all NATO countries on the Black Sea. If Russia is interfering with their trade, then those countries Navy vessels can protect trade.
The world has already proven they will not go to war with Putin. He knows he can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn’t start lobbing ICBM’s into western nations. And even then, he might still get away with a few.
Russia needs to be Putin its place.
(See that? See what I did there?)
