Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding that the Trump administration explain why U.S. forces seized a Venezuelan oil tanker.
"I really hope that the United States, although they consider themselves entitled to conduct such operations, will somehow explain, out of respect for other members of the world community, what facts led them to take such actions," he said at an ambassador roundtable on solving the crisis in Ukraine, Russia's Tass news agency reports.
The U.S. on Wednesday seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a move that sent oil prices higher and escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.
In response, the Venezuelan government in a statement accused the U.S. of "blatant theft" and described the seizure as "an act of international piracy."
It said it would denounce the incident before international bodies.
Lavrov said there is "too little information here because I do not know how the United States views the Venezuelan situation, except that President Trump has spoken publicly demanding a regime change or voluntary resignation of [Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro], but Chevron is operating in Venezuela, buying Venezuelan oil."
"What illegal volumes of this type of fuel were on this tanker — we need to get to the bottom of that somehow," he added.
The tanker is a "sanctioned shadow vessel known for carrying black-market sanctioned oil to the IRGC," or Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and will be taken to a U.S. port, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a news briefing.
Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
The seizure is the first of a Venezuelan oil cargo amid U.S. sanctions that have been in force since 2019.
It is also the Trump administration's first known action against a Venezuela-related tanker since he ordered a massive military buildup in the region.
The U.S. has already carried out several strikes against suspected drug vessels, raising concerns among lawmakers and legal experts.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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