"For any such risk, the necessity of conducting an operation will be assessed for each vessel and incident. There will have to be more of these operations. The aim is to monitor the vessels of the reserve fleet and also send the message that critical infrastructure has to be safeguarded," Michal said.

Asked if the operation was also something of a show of force, Michal said that perhaps show of force was too strong a way to describe it. "But I think the message that countries are in control of what happens at sea is certainly the result of this operation," he said.

Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) said Estonia was dealing with those Russian reserve fleet vessels that appear problematic and Friday's incident was the first clear example.

"Given the situation in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, we had no other option in this situation but to bring this ship to anchor and then inspect it," Pevkur said.

"There is a fleet of boats in the Baltic Sea all the time, but we conduct a risk analysis and a preliminary assessment of each ship individually. For the most part, there are no problems with ships and vessels at sea. Just like it is with passenger vehicles. The vast majority of passenger vehicles are all in order, but some have no insurance and some have not been inspected. It's the same principle on the waterways," the minister explained.

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