Sweden has  intercepted a cargo ship believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” in the Baltic Sea.

A report by Russia Today said, Moscow maintains that the notion of a Russian-operated “shadow fleet” is unfounded. According to Kremlin officials, the term is used to describe vessels that transport cargo outside the coverage of London-based insurance brokers.

Russia insists that even if such ships carry sanctioned cargo, Western countries have no legal basis to enforce these sanctions on the high seas under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Caffa, the vessel in question, was reportedly seized on Friday in cooperation with Swedish police aviation and the National Task Force. Authorities are currently conducting searches and questioning the 11 crew members, 10 of whom hold Russian citizenship.

The ship is listed on Ukraine’s sanctions list and sails under the flag of Guinea, although the Swedish Coast Guard says its flag status remains unclear.

According to tracking data, the cargo ship departed Casablanca, Morocco, in late February, bound for Saint Petersburg, and was expected to arrive on March 10. Built in 1997, the vessel had previously sailed under the flags of Malta and Russia before switching to the flag of Guinea, the data tracked by VesselFinder shows.

Swedish Minister of Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin posted on X that the authorities have yet to determine if the vessel “meets the requirements for navigating in our waters.” Bohlin cited “the significant challenge posed by the so-called shadow fleet” as the reason for the seizure.

The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it was in contact with local authorities about the ship’s Russian crew members and offered the detainees consular assistance.

The Caffa is the first cargo ship carrying grain to be seized on suspicion of sanctions violations. Previous interceptions by Western allies have primarily targeted oil tankers or other energy-related shipments, rather than general cargo vessels.

Moscow has condemned the recent seizures of Russian cargo vessels, which Western countries have conducted under various pretexts.

In February, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev called on the BRICS countries to demonstrate strategic maritime cooperation in order to defend global shipping lanes from “Western piracy.”

The recent crisis in the Middle East is likely to linger more than expected.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has dismissed media reports in the United States claiming he had made a new push to resume nuclear talks with Washington, as Israel and the US have continued attacks on Tehran.

“We will not negotiate with the United States,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Larijani made the push through Omani mediators following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a joint attack by the US and Israel on Saturday.

Reacting post on X, Larijani said Trump had plunged the Middle East into chaos with his “delusional fantasies and now fears more American casualties”.

“He turned his self-made ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel’s power-hungry ambitions,” Larijani said.

At least three service members were killed in an operation against Iran on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed in a statement, and five others were “seriously wounded”.