Oil tanker row: Moscow condemns US seizure of Russian-flagged vessel; cites violation of maritime law

Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned the seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker by US military forces, asserting that Washington had no legal right to use force against a vessel lawfully registered under another country’s jurisdiction on the high seas.In a statement issued on Telegram, Russia’s ministry of transport said the tanker Marinera, formerly known as Bella 1, had been granted a temporary permit to sail under the Russian flag on December 24, 2025, in accordance with Russian and international law.

As per news agency ANI, the ministry said the vessel was boarded by US naval forces outside the territorial waters of any state, after which contact with the ship was lost."On December 24, 2025, the Marinera received a temporary permit to sail under the Russian Federation flag, issued in accordance with Russian law and international law. Today, at approximately 3:00 pm Moscow time, the vessel was boarded by US Navy forces in the high seas outside the territorial waters of any state, and contact with the vessel was lost," the statement read.Quoting the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the ministry stressed that freedom of navigation applies in international waters.

"In accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in high seas waters, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states," the statement added.The Russian statement came shortly after the US European Command announced that it had seized the Russian-flagged oil tanker M/V Bella 1 in the North Atlantic Ocean. According to a post on X by the command, the vessel was seized under a warrant issued by a US federal court for violations of US sanctions, after being tracked for weeks by the US Coast Guard cutter Munro.US authorities said the tanker had evaded a US blockade of sanctioned oil vessels near Venezuela for over a fortnight. The operation was carried out by the department of homeland security with support from the department of war, reflecting what officials described as a “whole-of-government approach” to protecting US national security.According to AP, the ship had been sanctioned by the US in 2024 and was later renamed Marinera and reflagged to Russia. The seizure has added to tensions between Washington and Moscow, with reports indicating that Russia had also deployed naval assets to escort the tanker amid the standoff.