UK supported US seizure of Russian-flagged tanker, says Ministry of Defence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/07/europe-greenland-denmark-us-france-trade-weather-latest-news-updates

Posted by 00DEADBEEF

31 Comments

  1. adriftinaseaof on

    Choice of language is interesting ‘nefarious history’ and the emotive ‘misery’ aspect. Think we are seeing which way our government is siding for the time being. Doesn’t bode particularly well for Greenland.

  2. Express-Doughnut-562 on

    TBH, stopping this ship is one of the more legitimate things the Americans have done of late, even if provocative in the face of Russia claiming to defend it.

    Letting a ship run through the GIUK Gap wouldn’t be great in the current climate either.

    If there is a legitimate claim to stopping this ship – which looks likely – then its probably good we got involved.

  3. This is a good call.

    1 – Russia only understands strength. As soon as they scrambled their submarine to protect it, that guaranteed the US had to board it. And if the UK refused to help, Putin would see that as a sign of weakness. The fact we got involved is standing up to him.

    2 – I think we have to keep Trump onside because I honestly think he is fucking nuts. He is completely irrational, thin-skinned and overreacts to any slights eithe real or imagined. None of his actions in past months have been the actions of a sane man–insulting his allies, obsessing over not getting the Nobel Prize, his delusions about stopping eight wars, threatening military action over Greenland, the insane tarriffs…. Some White House insiders said he decided to attack Maduro only after Maduro mocked him with a dance. That is not the action of a sane man. I think he is fucking nuts, so its best to keep the nutter sweet with flattery and supporting him against Russian tankers like this.

  4. JaguarWitty9693 on

    I must say, I am very much enjoying Russia crying about this being outside maritime law after they literally allowed the vessel to change flag and re register mid voyage, which is most definitely against maritime law.

  5. Based. Now let’s sink that annoying Russian spy ship that’s mapping out our underwater pipelines!

  6. This was fairly obvious. We aren’t going to not be part of an operation based out of the uk. We can’t claim innocence in it regardless.

    Not that this one was wrong.

  7. Forsaken_Response866 on

    No issue with this one. Russia are one of the enemies of world peace. The United states are another enemy of world peace but in this instance there’s not much to get angry about

  8. Reddit absolutely tied in knots right now about whether they want to be seen supporting the USA or Russia more right now 🤣

  9. AnalThermometer on

    The US has finally done what Europe failed to, it went ahead and embrassed Russia in full view of their navy while ignoring the empty threats. These shadow fleet vessels have been allowed to transport oil, weapons, etc. for years to keep the Ukraine war funded. They should’ve all been siezed. 

    Now do a no fly zone over Ukraine and the rest of Europe. Do what Turkey did years back, they shot down a Russian incursion into their airspace immediately and all Russia could do was write a letter about how sad it made them.

  10. Any-Swing-3518 on

    Let’s not forget that scuffles over marine shipping were key to bringing a superpower, the US, into the first world war. These things can escalate and get out of control, and besides, the rogue president Trump has nil standing to invoke international legality at this point while he’s kidnapping foreign heads of state and threatening to steal Greenland from Denmark. Downvote away.

  11. CMDR_Arnold_Rimmer on

    Trump is trying everything in the book to make everyone forget about his association with Jeffrey Epstein, and it’s working.

  12. I don’t like that we got involved, everything is a mess so we should’ve stayed out of it. 

    Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq comes to mind, we were duped into helping then… 

  13. Of course we did.
    Starmer is Donald’s Poodle and if he says “jump!”
    Our Government says yessir how high?

  14. The Russian bear is toothless and only understands the language of power. Btw, comparing Russia to a bear has nothing to do with recognizing their “strength”, bears are known to be crazy and aggressive

  15. Difficult-Cricket541 on

    Why is there a picture of greenland with this article? Has nothing to do with this. The article is pay walled.

  16. Specialist_Wrap_6257 on

    The UK should be moving away from supporting the United States instead of continuing it’s role as lapdog.

  17. I’m not sure about this one. Obviously the Russian shadow fleet is bad and so I’m not hugely upset that it’s being disrupted. And Russia was playing silly flag games as some kind of bluff, which the US has called.

    But US law is not international law, sailing between countries that are not the US should not be subject to US sanctions, and I don’t see what legal right they or we have to seize shipping outside our own territory (or even there, tbh, shipping is very legally protected).

    Our place in the world order is largely based on our reputation as (imperfect, but still better than most) upholders of rules and respecters of the rule based international order. Supporting extralegal actions like this directly damages our credibility in that area.

  18. Be funny to see how many people saying ‘Trump bad!’ also have also ‘slavi Ukraini’ in previous posts. 
    Russian submarines were on location, this was an important vessel for Russia.

  19. GiftedGeordie on

    Normally I’d be against us doing anything to help Trump, but even I don’t hate that we’re doing this.

  20. NoAvocadoMeSad on

    Lmao isnt this the one that was being reported as off the coast of Ireland?

    I’m sure Russia was sending in ships to escort it

    Get fucked Putin and co

  21. InfiniteTallgeese on

    I don’t see a problem with this, we all know the Russian shadow fleet is a massive problem worldwide and even in our waters, we should be apprehending them whenever possible. People will only be shouting about this because of American involvement due to recent events, I imagine it would’ve been roundly applauded a few months ago.

  22. GrandFace7791 on

    Western powers getting on top of the world’s shadow fleets is long overdue. We should be actively seizing anything suspicious and driving for a new international treaty on vessel flags to make it harder to avoid sanctions through these methods

  23. UuusernameWith4Us on

    Fun fact that probably isn’t relevant at all: in December 2024 a Russian tanker that was travelling to North Korea sank off the coast of Spain. Spanish investigators dived to take a look at it and found it was carrying nuclear reactor parts and had damage consistent with being hit by a torpedo.

    Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Ursa_Major#:~:text=A%20Spanish%20investigation%20concluded%20that,consistent%20with%20a%20torpedo%20strike.

  24. win_some_lose_most1y on

    Don’t buy into this. This is an attempt to “sane wash” American actions. Don’t let media associate both actions as equivalent.

  25. Background-Flight323 on

    It’s a funny old world isn’t it. One day the US declares the UN Charter null and void, the next it threatens to invade a NATO ally and the next day we are helping their military operations in the Atlantic.