MOSCOW: Moscow on Wednesday slammed the United States over the seizure of a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic that Washington's forces had pursued from the coast of Venezuela.
"In accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in waters on the high seas, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states," Russia's transport ministry said in a statement.
The vessel, which changed its name from Bella-1 to Marinera, had received "temporary permission" to sail under the Russian flag on December 24, the ministry said, adding that "contact with the ship was lost" after US naval forces boarded it "in the open sea, beyond the territorial waters of any state".
US officials say the tanker is part of a so-called shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The ship had thwarted an earlier attempt to board it last month near Venezuela, where a US raid on Saturday toppled the country's authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro.
"The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court," US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X.
After the operation, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted that the US blockade on Venezuelan oil was in full effect "anywhere in the world."