Trump on collision course with Putin after US seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker | EUROtoday

US forces have seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker within the Atlantic in a dramatic transfer that would put Donald Trump on a collision course with Vladimir Putin.

The UK later revealed British armed forces supplied help to the United States’ seize of the Sailora Venezuelan-linked vessel beforehand referred to as Bella-1because it travelled north and eastwards by means of the waters between Iceland and Scotland on Wednesday.

The interception of the vessel comes amid a local weather of worldwide instability, with tensions additionally rising between Mr Trump and Europe over the US president’s repeated threats to take over Greenland.

The diplomatic row over Greenland got here simply days after US forces entered Venezuela and seized its president, Nicolas Maduro, in a unprecedented present of American navy energy. Mr Maduro was taken to New York, the place he’s dealing with costs for drug trafficking, possession of machine weapons and damaging gadgets, and “narco-terrorism”.

Now, the seize of the Sailor may show to be a brand new flashpoint in relations between the West and Moscow after Russia’s transport ministry appeared to recommend that worldwide maritime legislation had been breached.

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Mr Trump appeared to take a swipe on the US’s Nato companions following the operation, writing on social media: “We will always be there for Nato, even if they won’t be there for us. The only nation that China and Russia fear and respect is the DJT (Donald J Trump) REBUILT USA. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

His declare of an absence of Western help got here regardless of British involvement within the interception of the Sailor. RAF surveillance craft and a naval provide ship, the RFA Tideforcehad been among the many British navy property which took half within the operation, in accordance with the Ministry of Defence, which insisted the UK’s help was “in full compliance with international law”.

Defence Secretary John Healey stated: “This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine.”

Arguing the seizure was legally justified, Mr Healey later instructed MPs on Wednesday night the tanker had been “stateless” and falsely flying the flag of Guyana when it was first intercepted, earlier than altering its title and making an attempt to undertake the Russian flag.

He stated the UK supported the operation on the request of Mr Trump as a part of “global efforts to crack down on sanctions-busting and shadow shipping activity”.

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The sanctioned tanker has been pursued by the US over a number of weeks, after it apparently escaped what Mr Trump described as a “total naval blockade” of Venezuela put in place in December.

The Sailor is one among a “shadow fleet” of tankers carrying oil in breach of US and worldwide sanctions. Currently empty, it rapidly renamed itself from the Bella 1 and painted a Russian flag on its facet in a bid to safe Russian safety after turning towards Europe.

Russia’s transport ministry stated it had granted the Sailorbeforehand flagged in Guyana, a “temporary permit to sail under the Russian Federation flag” on Christmas Eve. It added that “no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states” below the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

US European Command introduced the seizure of the Sailor for “violations of US sanctions”, earlier than it was then revealed that one other sanctioned Venezuela-linked tanker was seized by the US. The Sophia was captured throughout a “pre-dawn” raid within the Caribbean on Wednesday, in accordance with the US Southern Command. In a social media submit on the back-to-back actions, US secretary of homeland safety Kristi Noem stated each ships had been “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it”.

The US navy has now handed management of the Sailor to legislation enforcement officers after seizing it, a US official instructed The Associated Press.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the crew of the tanker is topic to prosecution.

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Ahead of the Sailor’s seizure, Kremlin adviser and former Russian deputy international minister Andrei Fedorov instructed the BBC that such a transfer 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”.

The seizures on Wednesday come after US forces apprehended at the very least two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil in worldwide waters in the direction of the tip of final yr. Meanwhile, at the very least 33 Venezuelan vessels have been focused by the US since early September in assaults which are believed to have killed 112 folks, justified by claims of drug trafficking into the US.

Former deputy head of Nato Rose Gottemoeller has accused Mr Trump of wanting “to end what has been the post-Second World War law-governed order enshrined in the UN Charter”. Speaking to The Independentshe additionally warned Europe may face a future with out US nuclear deterrence amid the US president’s vow to take Greenland.

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Sir Keir Starmer has been urged by senior British navy figures to be a lot harder in resisting Mr Trump’s menace to annex the strategic, mineral-rich island, which is a part of Denmark, a Nato nation.

Former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace accused the US president of making an attempt to “thieve” Greenland’s mineral property, whereas former Nato deputy supreme allied commander General Sir Richard Shirreff stated the British authorities “ducks and weaves” as a substitute of taking a agency stance on defending the territory.

But on Tuesday, Sir Keir and different European leaders spoke out publicly over the threats, declaring that they’ll “not stop defending” Greenland’s territorial integrity.