Russia demands quick return of tanker crew after US Seizure
Shafaq News- Moscow
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on the United States to ensure humane treatment and the swift return of the crew of a Russian oil tanker seized in the northern Atlantic Ocean after being pursued from waters off Venezuela.
In a statement, the ministry urged Washington not to obstruct the crew’s return to Russia, adding that Moscow is closely monitoring reports of a US military boarding operation involving the tanker Marinera.
Separately, Russia’s Ministry of Transport said that “under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies on the high seas, and no state has the right to use force against vessels lawfully registered under another country’s jurisdiction.”
The vessel, which had changed its name from Bella-1 to Marinera, was granted temporary authorization to sail under the Russian flag on December 24, the ministry stated, noting the “contact with the tanker was lost after US Navy forces boarded it on the high seas, outside the territorial waters of any state.”
The United States announced that it had detained the Russian oil tanker in the northern Atlantic as part of its enforcement of sanctions targeting oil shipments linked to Venezuela.
Earlier, the US Coast Guard also intercepted a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, the Panama-flagged M Sophia, near the northeast coast of South America, the US officials said, in the fourth seizure in recent weeks. The tanker was fully loaded, according to records of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA.
