By Solange Reyner | Thursday, 11 December 2025 06:17 PM EST
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has demanded that the Trump administration explain why U.S. forces seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.
“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.
The U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.
In response, the Venezuelan government accused the U.S. of “blatant theft” and described the seizure as “an act of international piracy,” stating 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.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that the tanker is a “sanctioned shadow vessel known for carrying black-market sanctioned oil to the IRGC” and will be taken to a U.S. port.
Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
The seizure marks the first action by the Trump administration against Venezuelan oil cargo under sanctions imposed since 2019, and it is also the administration’s first known move targeting a Venezuela-related tanker following his order for a massive regional military buildup.
The United States has already carried out several strikes against suspected drug vessels, raising concerns among lawmakers and legal experts.
