Putin threatens to seize European ships in retaliation

Vladimir Putin warned on 12 August that Russia would retaliate against European interceptions of Russian oil cargoes, Euronews reports. Speaking while observing naval exercises aboard the cruiser Varyag near Sakhalin, he described the European actions as piracy and banditry and said Moscow would be forced to "respond in kind", acting wherever it deemed appropriate. Euronews notes that EU sanctions adopted in July allow member states to sell cargo seized from such vessels, and that Sweden was preparing to hand a seized Russian ship, suspected of carrying grain from occupied Ukraine, over to Kyiv.

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