MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. The European Union’s actions to detain civilian vessels constitute maritime piracy and Brussels is not ready for dialogue, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of European problems and Russia’s senior official at the Arctic Council, said at a news conference.

"The actions of some European countries that have effectively assumed the right to forcibly detain civilian vessels based on illegitimate unilateral EU sanctions are essentially maritime piracy," he said.

According to the diplomat, it is absolutely clear that Brussels is not ready for the dialogue with other countries on Arctic issues.