Russian officials on Wednesday condemned the US military’s seizure of a Venezuela-linked, Russia-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic as a brazen violation of international law.

One Russian lawmaker, Andrei Klishas, said in response to the US military’s takeover of the oil tanker Marinera that the Trump administration “has engaged in outright piracy on the high seas.” Klishas noted that the operation followed “a ‘law enforcement operation’ that killed several dozen people in Venezuela.”

Russia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that it lost contact with the oil vessel, which the US Coast Guard had been pursuing for weeks. Russia sent a submarine to escort the ship, which was reportedly en route to Venezuela to pick up oil.

“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,” said the Russian Transport Ministry. (The US has not ratified the 1982 treaty.)

Citing unnamed US officials, Reuters reported that “Russian military vessels, including a submarine, were in the general vicinity” of the Marinera when US forces boarded and took it over on Wednesday. The Marinera was reportedly not carrying any cargo when US forces seized it.

“There were no indications of any confrontation between US and Russian military forces,” the outlet added.

The Marinera was one of two tankers seized by US forces in international waters on Wednesday as the Trump administration looks to exert total control over Venezuela’s oil industry. The other vessel, the M/T Sophia, was reportedly carrying around 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude.

Unclassified footage posted to social media by the US Southern Command—and overlaid with dramatic music—shows American forces descending from a helicopter and boarding the M/T Sophia:

In a pre-dawn action this morning, the Department of War, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident.

The interdicted vessel, M/T Sophia, was operating in international waters and… pic.twitter.com/JQm9gHprPk
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) January 7, 2026

“This is America first at sea,” US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared.

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