Russia strongly condemned the US seizure of an oil tanker and warned of further escalation

Russia strongly condemned the US seizure of an oil tanker on Thursday, heralding a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington that could spill over into other areas and hurt President Donald Trump’s efforts to persuade Russia to end its nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

Wednesday’s seizure of a Russian-flagged tanker in the North Atlantic could “increase further military and political tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region and lower the threshold for the use of force against peaceful shipping,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on the tanker seizure and has remained silent on the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, which his diplomats have condemned as an act of aggression.

But while the Russian president has shrugged off any criticism of Trump, the US military’s seizure of the tanker is a new challenge for the Kremlin.

Hawkish commentators in Moscow criticized the government for failing to mount a swift response and argued that Russia should deploy its naval assets to protect the shadow fleet’s ships.

Ukraine’s Western allies have long vowed to tighten sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers used to transport its oil to global customers, and many observers in Moscow have warned that the US action could set a precedent for other nations.

Beyond its tough rhetoric, Russia has few options when considering how to respond to the seizure, according to Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

“Russians tend to yell and scream when embarrassed, and they are embarrassed in this case because Russian power is not something Vladimir Putin created,” Fried said. “They couldn’t do anything about this ship.”

US European Command said the merchant ship Bella 1 was seized on Wednesday for “violation of US sanctions”. The tanker was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia after the U.S. began chasing the tanker last month after it tried to impose sanctions on oil tankers around Venezuela.

Trump’s administration has imposed an oil embargo on Venezuela, and the Department of Energy says oil transported in and out of Venezuela will only be through channels approved by U.S. law and national security interests.

How Russia views US military action

The Foreign Ministry said the US attempt to seize the tanker as part of a broader effort to establish control over Venezuela’s oil wealth was a “totally reprehensible” reflection of “neo-colonial ambitions”.

The ministry described it as a “gross violation” of international maritime law and allowed the ship to sail under the Russian flag, issued in December. It said US threats to prosecute the crew on “absurd pretexts” were “clearly unacceptable”.

It said sanctions imposed unilaterally by the US and other Western countries were “illegal” and could not serve as justification for seizing ships on the high seas.

“Washington’s willingness to create a situation of acute international crisis, with Russian-American relations burdened by disagreements from previous years, is a cause for regret and concern,” the ministry said.

The White House declined to comment Thursday when asked about the State Department’s statement.

The tanker seizure drew angry comments from Russian military bloggers, some of whom accused the Kremlin of failing to respond forcefully to the US action. Many criticized the military for failing to immediately send warships to rescue the tanker.

Some proposed deploying a team of military contractors aboard Shadow Fleet ships to prevent future such attacks.

Alexander Coates, a military correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, argued that the Kremlin’s failure to respond forcefully to seize the tanker could prompt the US and other Western nations to seize more vessels.

“Faced with a threat that feels omnipotent, we have to slap him in the face,” Coates wrote.

Defendant view

Fried said there is little credibility in Russia’s complaints about international law over its invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s claim to the ship is also tenuous, he said, adding that it was granted temporary permission to fly the Russian flag late last month.

“If you talk about it legally, it’s a complex issue. If you talk about it strategically, the Russians are badly overextended and weakened,” said Fried, now with the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank. “They’re stuck in a war in Ukraine that they haven’t won … their economy is hurting.”

He said that while it was possible that Moscow could respond by planning an attack on US interests and seizing the tanker, Putin did not want to risk antagonizing Trump.

“Putin has gotten even more with Trump when he flatters him,” Fried said.

As tensions rose over the seizure of the ship, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said Wednesday that Trump had “greenlighted” a Russia sanctions bill he’s been working on for months aimed at crippling Moscow economically.

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Associated Press writer David Klepper in Washington contributed to this story.