The Royal Netherlands Navy frigate Zr.Ms. De Ruyter escorted two Russian ships passing through the Netherlands’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) yesterday.
The ships included the Russian Navy’s small warship Soobrazitelny and the oil tanker General Skobolev.
While the passage of foreign vessels through the EEZ is legal under international maritime law, the Dutch Ministry of Defence opted to monitor the transit closely, citing the presence of critical infrastructure in the North Sea, such as underwater data cables and pipelines.
The Russian vessels continued southward along the Dutch coast without incident and left the EEZ after completing their passage.