Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded that the administration of President Donald Trump provide justification for its seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker this week, as tensions have soared between the U.S. and the South American nation in recent months.
“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,” Lavrov said, Russia’s Tass news agency reported on Thursday.
“There is too little information here because I do not know how the United States views the Venezuelan situation, except that President [Donald] Trump has spoken publicly demanding a regime change or voluntary resignation of [Venezuelan President Nicolas 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,” the Russian foreign minister said.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.