Medvedev: Russia has the right to attack merchant vessels transporting goods of an enemy country in either Russian waters or neutral waters

On August 12, Dmitry Medvedev, Vice Chairman of the Russian Security Council, posted a message on his Telegram channel, the full text as follows:

Western European countries are wildly shouting about Russia's so-called "shadow fleet." Let us clarify exactly what this is.

It refers simply to ordinary merchant ships—flying non-Russian flags but carrying out transportation tasks beneficial to Russia. These flags are commonly known as "flags of convenience." This mechanism involves ships not being registered in the owner’s home country, but instead registering in other nations to evade taxes and reduce regulatory requirements. Countries such as Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Malta, and Seychelles fall into this category of registration jurisdictions.

There is no doubt that, under both the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and national laws of various countries, Western Europe has no right to seize such vessels. This would be pure arbitrariness.

But from this, we can draw a crucial conclusion: the vast majority of Western European domestic vessels also sail under flags of convenience. What does this mean? It means that, applying the principle of reciprocity (which is truly fair), if there is sufficient grounds to suspect that a merchant vessel belonging to an enemy country is transporting goods for an adversary, Russia has the right to attack such enemy vessels located within Russian waters or neutral waters—regardless of what cargo they carry. And the number of these vessels is enormous. Our armed forces are fully capable of significantly expanding military operations beyond the Black Sea region!

The Commander of the Pacific Fleet has today reported on this issue directly to the Supreme Commander.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1873309437762563/

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