BRUSSELS, March 16. /TASS/. Brussels welcomes detentions of foreign tankers with Russian oil on board by EU member-countries and views such action as the most efficient, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

"Following the US decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil, Europe will maintain sanctions and continue to move away from Russian fossil fuels," she stressed.

"Dialling up pressure on Russia's shadow fleet is one of the best tools we have. I commend France, Belgium and also Sweden for boarding and seizing falsely flagged tankers," Kallas added.

The European Union already blacklisted over 500 tankers and since last year some EU countries started capturing such vessels near their territorial waters.