Estonia wants to allow its military to sink suspicious ships: how it will work

The Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) intends to grant the Defense Forces and the Navy the right to use military force against merchant ships suspected of intending to damage underwater cables and other infrastructure facilities. In extreme cases, the military will have the right to sink a suspicious ship if it does not comply with legal requirements, UNN writes with reference to ERR.ee.

Details

The bill amends two laws - on the Defense Forces and on the economic zone. Its purpose is to ensure the right of the Navy to prevent incidents such as the deliberate rupture of marine cables by foreign merchant ships and damage to other infrastructure facilities. It is noted that there have been more such cases recently. In this regard, the military wants to be given the right to use military force against a suspicious vessel.

If we use armed forces in international waters against anyone, thereby violating the freedom of navigation, then everything must be thoroughly thought out. If the Navy and the Defense Forces are going to apply this law, then they must have both a diplomatic justification and appropriate means, that is, laws, weapons

The bill implies that, if necessary, the military will have the right to sink a suspicious ship that does not obey their orders.

Such actions will be resorted to only in extreme cases. For example, when there is a threat to the lives of many people or to avoid a catastrophe

Stoicescu also assured that even if a decision is made to sink a suspicious ship, its entire crew will be evacuated before that. At the same time, Saska noted that in this case, the question of the expediency of sinking a ship from which the crew was evacuated remains open, because an empty ship can no longer cause harm. In addition, after the flooding, it may pose a threat to the environment.

I don't even know how to comment on this. If I were the captain of a ship, how should I sink a ship whose crew I myself evacuated? After all, this ship no longer poses a danger to critical infrastructure or anything else. If it is sunk, it will create a great threat to the environment. Everything is very confusing here

The first reading of the bill is scheduled for Wednesday.

Addendum

Earlier it was reported that British military discovered hidden Russian sensors in the seas around Great Britain. Presumably, they were used to spy on British nuclear submarines.