JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said his country has the right to attack any merchant ship in neutral waters if the ship carries cargo for the enemy's interests.
"Most Western European ships also sail using a 'flag of convenience'. So, what does that mean? It means that, based on a fair and symmetrical approach, Russia has the right to attack the merchant ships of any enemy country - both in our waters and in neutral waters - if there is a strong reason to suspect that the ship is carrying a cargo for the enemy. Yes, any cargo! There are many such ships," Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel, responding to Western statements about Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet', reported TASS (13/8).
"Our armed forces are able to significantly expand the range of their operations beyond the borders of the Black Sea region," Medvedev said, adding that this was just reported by the Commander of the Pacific Fleet Viktor Liina to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Discussing the context of this issue, the security official alluded to how "the West European lackeys are busy barking frantically about what is called the Russian shadow fleet" and suggested understanding what it actually is.
"This term refers to ordinary merchant ships that sail under non-Russian flags but carry out transport operations for our benefit. Such flags are usually referred to as 'flags of convenience' or 'flags of friendship'. This is a system where a ship is registered in a country other than its owner's country in order to reduce tax burdens and regulatory costs," explained the former Russian President.
Medvedev detailed that the countries providing "flag of convenience" include Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Malta, and Seychelles.
"Of course, European officials have no right to detain such ships, either under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or national law. This is a clear arbitrary act," he said.
Previously, while in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on board the main ship of the Pacific Fleet, the Varyag Guards guided missile cruiser, President Putin also discussed the same issue.
President Putin highlighted that, by violating international maritime law, the authorities of a number of Western countries have long sought to restrict the movement of civilian vessels belonging to Russian economic actors and have recently considered seizing Russian ships as well as selling the seized assets.
President Putin called this action "piracy and robbery" and promised Moscow would take retaliatory action in any location it deemed appropriate, not necessarily in the waters where the planned seizure would take place.
He added that he had given instructions in this regard to the Russian Ministry of Defense and passed them on to the command hierarchy, including the Pacific Fleet Command.
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