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Earlier today, in the Gulf of Finland, multiple ships of the Estonian Navy attempted to force the civilian vessel Jaguar to change course and enter the country’s territorial sea, according to Russian pro-war Telegram channels Dobry Moryachok (lit. “Kind Sailor”) and RaZved_DoZor. According to these reports, the Jaguar, which bears the flag of Gabon, was sailing in international waters at the time of the incident.
The channels claim that Estonia deployed significant resources for the operation, including the patrol boat Raju (confirmed via MarineTraffic data), the patrol boat Kurvits, an amphibious helicopter, and a PZL M28 aircraft. NATO aircraft — specifically Polish Air Force MiG-29s — were also reportedly involved in the attempted interception. The channels shared videos allegedly filmed by Jaguar crew members as evidence.
The Insider was able to confirm, using Sentinel navigation charts and data from tracking service MarineTraffic, that Jaguar was indeed located in neutral waters during its encounter with the Estonian patrol boat Kurvits.
However, the video shared by the pro-Russian Telegram channels shows coordinates on the vessel’s navigation display indicating that, at the time of filming, the ship was positioned just south of the neutral waters boundary — within Estonia’s territorial waters. Estonian naval vessels then continued tracking the Jaguar as it moved into international waters.
The vessel is listed by Ukrainian intelligence and the international NGO Greenpeace as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” — a collection of poorly maintained, aging tankers that are used to transport crude oil above the $60-per-barrel price cap set in December 2022 by the G7 countries, the EU, and Australia. The fleet has allowed the Kremlin to continue to line its coffers and finance the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which entered its fourth year in February 2025.
According to the reports on Telegram, Estonian forces twice attempted to land a boarding team from a helicopter onto the Jaguar. However, the ship’s crew allegedly prevented the inspection team from boarding and continued along their course en route to the port of Primorsk in Russia’s Leningrad Region. The reports also claimed that a Russian Su-35 fighter jet arrived to escort the vessel into Russian territorial waters.
Norwegian military analyst Thord Are Iversen writes that, according to ship-tracking services, Jaguar did indeed disobey Estonian commands and is currently anchored near Gogland Island — which is part of Russian territory in the Gulf of Finland. He notes that the video footage shared by Russian channels “seems legit” and confirms that an Estonian naval ship was in close proximity to Jaguar during the incident.
The Jaguar's location at the time the video was recorded
This is not the first time the Estonian Navy has undertaken such an action. On April 11, Estonian authorities detained Kiwala, a tanker also linked to the Russian “shadow fleet.” At the time of its detention, the tanker was flying the flag of Djibouti, though Djiboutian authorities initially denied the vessel was registered with them, Estonian officials said. The ship was released after the Estonian Transport Authority received a letter confirming Djibouti would accept the vessel onto its registry. The Russia-bound Kiwala was eventually released on April 28.
In January, German authorities towed the drifting Eventin, another suspected Russian “shadow fleet” tanker, to shore after it suffered a power failure. Germany’s federal government then confiscated the vessel — along with $40 million worth of its crude oil cargo — and replaced its crew, taking full control of the ship.