Former US marine calls seizure of Russian ship in Atlantic ‘theft’ and ‘piracy’

MOSCOW:  The seizure of Russia’s Marinera tanker in the Atlantic Ocean is an act of theft and piracy under the guise of legal terms, John Ma...

MOSCOW:  The seizure of Russia’s Marinera tanker in the Atlantic Ocean is an act of theft and piracy under the guise of legal terms, John Mark Dougan, an ex-Marine and seasoned police officer, has told TASS.

"At this point, we should stop pretending there’s a grand strategy here and call it what it is: state-sanctioned piracy. When the US Navy seizes oil tankers on the high seas, including one tied to Russia, and reroutes their cargo under the banner of ‘law enforcement,’ that isn’t diplomacy or peacekeeping," he said. "It’s theft, plain and simple, dressed up in legal jargon and wrapped in a stars-and-stripes press release."

Together with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s abduction, the incident shows that "the rules-based international order starts looking a lot like ‘might makes right,’ with Washington playing the role it once claimed to oppose."

"And yet, we’re told this is all part of Trump’s quest to be remembered as the great peacemaker. Really? Because nothing screams peace like hijacking oil shipments, provoking Russia, rattling China, and lighting a fuse under global energy markets," the expert added. "If this is the road to peace, it’s paved with stolen oil, escalating retaliation, and the kind of reckless bravado that historically ends not in Nobel Prizes, but in wars no one can control."

The Pentagon said earlier that the Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera had been detained in the North Atlantic. The US Souhern Command wrote on its X account. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth linked the detention of the Russian tanker to the embargo on Venezuelan oil.

Earlier in the day, the Russian ministry of transport said that at about 3:00 p.m. Moscow time (noon GMT) on January 7, the US naval forces boarded the vessel in international waters outside territorial waters of any states. Contact with the ship has been lost. In accordance with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the high seas are governed by the principle of freedom of navigation, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states, the ministry stressed.

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