US thanks Britain for ‘unwavering support’ in oil tanker seizure
The US military has thanked the UK for its “unwavering support” in the seizing of a Russian-flagged oil tanker.
RAF surveillance aircraft and a naval supply ship, RFA Tideforce, assisted the operation to capture the Marinera in the Atlantic on Wednesday following a request from the US.
But no British personnel took part in the boarding of the vessel, Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs on Wednesday evening.
The Venezuelan-linked vessel, previously known as the Bella 1, was seized as it travelled north and eastwards through the waters between Iceland and Scotland.
Following the operation, the US military’s European Command posted on social media thanking the UK “for your unwavering support during the US operation to seize the M/V Bella”.
The message came just hours after Donald Trump criticised Nato allies, suggesting America was “always there” for the alliance “even if they won’t be there for us”.
America remains the only nation to have invoked Nato’s collective security provision, known as Article 5, which led to other members of the alliance assisting in the response to the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.
The capture of the Marinera, which appeared bound for a Russian Arctic port, could prove a new flashpoint in relations between the West and Moscow, whose transport ministry appeared to suggest the international law of the sea had been breached.
But Mr Healey told MPs the seizure had been legally justified as the tanker had been “stateless” and falsely flying the flag of Guyana when it was first intercepted.
He said: “A stateless vessel may be lawfully intercepted and subjected to the law of the interdicting state.”
Mr Healey added that the Marinera had been involved in breaching sanctions on Iran, telling the Commons: “Over a four-year period, reports suggest that this vessel moved some 7.3 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, the proceeds of which have been used to finance terrorism, threat and instability across the world.”
He added it was “telling” that the ship had “changed its name and tried to adopt the Russian flag” in an effort to evade seizure.
But the Russian foreign ministry suggested the seizure had breached the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying it had given the ship a “temporary permit to sail under the Russian Federation flag” on Christmas Eve.
Ahead of the Marinera’s seizure, Kremlin adviser and former Russian deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov warned such a move would “be considered as (an) attack on Russia, and it could lead to very critical or maybe even crisis situation in relations between Russia and US”.
Published: by Radio NewsHub