CHINA, Russia, the US and the EU have all raised concerns that global maritime security is being dangerously and routinely undermined.

But they have all pointed the finger of blame at each other as the source of the problem.

As the UN Security Council opened a debate on strengthening maritime security under the direction of council president Greece on Tuesday, diplomats traded blows, each accusing each other of violating maritime security norms.

Despite a plea from UN secretary-general António Guterres to find opportunities for international co-operation, and a reminder that “without maritime security, there can be no global security”, the three-hour long discussion held at UN headquarters in New York quickly descended into a series of allegations and accusations.

The US called out Iran’s continued support of Houthi attacks and labelled China a “threat to global maritime security”, citing China’s coercive, unlawful and dangerously aggressive actions in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

China retorted that the US was itself “the biggest threat to the peace and stability of the South China Sea”, citing repeated attempts to “flex its muscles and stir up the confrontation” all under the pretext of freedom of navigation.

Russia, meanwhile, used the opportunity of a UN platform to lash out at Nato, the EU, “illegal unilateral sanctions”, and the recent actions of Estonia, which it accused of multiple failed attempts to board so-called shadow fleet tankers.

Labelling the raft of sanctions levelled at Russian interests and vessels as “illegal, unilateral coercive measures”, Russia’s representative Vasily Nebenzya criticised unprecedented attempts to disrupt global supply chains and impinge freedom of navigation.

“These actions are comparable to piracy,” said Nebenzya in reference to Estonia’s decision last week to escort the tanker Jaguar (IMO: 9293002), a ship with no flag registration headed for the Russian port of Primorsk, but out of its Exclusive Economic Zone.

According to the account delivered by Nebenzya on Tuesday, two attempts were made by an Estonian “assault team” to board the vessel by helicopter. When they failed to do so an Estonian naval vessel tried to ram the tanker. 

That account has been strongly disputed by the Estonian ministry of defence, where insiders suggest that Russia was using the UN debate as a platform to manipulate a false narrative.

According to a statement issued to Lloyd’s List from the ministry, Estonian authorities did not attempt a boarding, nor did Estonian authorities attempt to redirect the vessel by force.

Estonian authorities did ask the vessel to alter its course, but the vessel denied co-operation. While a vessel of the Estonian Navy and a helicopter of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board were in vicinity of Jaguar, “no offensive manoeuvres” were taken, explained the statement.

The Estonian record, however, did not prevent Russia from using the incident as an example of hypocritical western attempts to undermine maritime security.

“Such actions, even in territorial waters, would have been a flagrant violation of the right of peaceful passage in international waters,” said Nebenzya.

“We therefore would like to remind you and remind the newly minted Baltic pirates and their EU cheerleaders that stopping a vessel on any grounds not listed in the [UN Convention of the Law of the Sea] is by definition a grave attack on the freedom of navigation and the right of innocent passage.

“The unacceptable behaviour of EU countries sets a dangerous precedent. Were other states to follow in their footsteps, global supply chains would be disrupted, and maritime trade would simply grind to a halt… This path leads directly to military escalation and to serious, serious threats being posed to maritime security,” Nebenzya told the UN security council.

Meanwhile, that same message was being amplified in Moscow via Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who told reporters on Wednesday: “As the latest events related to the attempted pirate attack on one of the tankers showed, Russia demonstrated it is capable of responding quite harshly.”

Peskov said Russia was ready to use “all means” at its disposal in future to respond to such incidents within the framework of international law and had a wide range of response options to choose from.