At the start of this month, the number of ships anchored in the area was close to 40, while as of this week that figure had roughly halved, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

"It is a constantly changing figure, but at the moment it can be said that the number of these ships is between 10 and 15," said Are Piel, head of the Maritime Traffic Management Department at the Transport Administration (Transpordiamet).

The Marine Traffic map showed, as of Tuesday, 13 vessels off Vaindloo Island, in Estonia's territorial waters. Most of these are oil tankers, and their destination ports include Russian ports at the easternmost end of the Gulf of Finland.

ERR reported the week before last that Russian naval vessels had also been seen in the area. The Transport Administration says it is not aware of any incidents involving this vessel in relation to the anchored tankers.

Following Ukraine's drone wave strikes on Russian Baltic ports such as Ust-Luga and Primorsk, dock facilities were out of action, leading to a buildup of "shadow fleet" vessels, mostly oil tankers, in the Gulf of Finland.

While Estonia's maritime territory in the gulf abuts Finland's, a narrow corridor is open for Russian shipping to pass along.

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