The vessel, the Kiwala, was intercepted by the Estonian Navy (Merevägi) on Friday, April 11, after entering Estonian waters from the west, en route to the Russian port of Ust-Luga.

Kristjan Truu, director of the civilian Transport Administration's (Transpordiamet) maritime service, said Saturday. "Technically, the ship is in order and it may depart."

The Kiwala had been on the sanctions list of several countries, including the U.K. and the EU.

After being seized, the Kiwala, originally sailing under the flag of Djibouti, was found to have 40 deficiencies. These had to be corrected before the ship could continue its journey.

The Kiwala's Chinese captain and international crew reportedly cooperated with inspections. A follow-up inspection by the Transport Administration confirmed all deficiencies had been corrected, Truu noted.

29 of the issues were "significant" and mostly related to documentation. These were the main reason for the ship's impounding at anchor in Muuga Bay, just east of Tallinn.

Other deficiencies concerned maritime safety management, crew emergency preparedness, and technical shortcomings.

At the time of writing, the Kiwala was still at anchor in Muuga Bay while final procedures were completed, Truu said.

The vessel, which was empty, will then continue to Ust-Luga.

When the Kiwala was first seized in the small hours of April 11, in an operation that began the previous night after the ship entered the Gulf of Finland, concerns were raised about possible infrastructure damage. This followed a spate of subsea cable and pipeline damage by vessels in the area. However, authorities stressed the Kiwala was not suspected of causing damage.

When the ship entered Estonia's exclusive economic zone, contact was made with the crew, and it was directed into Estonian territorial waters for inspection. Estonia exercised its right to board and inspect the documents.

The tanker's port of origin was Sikka, India.

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