France’s actions in detaining the Russian ship Tagor violate international law, and Moscow demands that Paris provide full information on this move, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, June 2 (Xinhua) — France’s actions in detaining the Russian ship Tagor violate international law, and Moscow demands that Paris provide full information on this move, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Tuesday.
“The Russian Embassy in France has demanded that Paris provide full details of the circumstances surrounding this detention and take comprehensive measures to protect Russian nationals among the crew,” she announced, calling the detention another example of European legal nihilism and the rewriting of legal norms international standards to adapt them to its own needs.
The French authorities have misinterpreted Article 110 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allows a warship to inspect a foreign ship in international waters if it is stateless, but does not authorize it to escort it to the port of the state of that warship, she added.
On May 31, a French warship intercepted the Tagor 400 km off the French coast in international waters, alleging that the ship was sailing from Murmansk, Russia, under a false flag.
