Die USA entern ein weiteres Schiff der russischen Schattenflotte

Jusst a Special Inspection Operation. Nothing to see here

Yes, board it, take control and then sail it to Cuba and GIVE it to them free!

Reminder that, yes, maritime law permits such enforcement actions against „shadow fleet“ ships that Venezuela and Iran and Russia use to smuggle oil, it’s pretty cut and dry. They use false flags and faked registrations because they’re sanctioned and so no insurer will insure them, and without insurance no port will let them dock, and any waters friendly to the US will seize them, which makes them useless for their purpose of shipping things from point A to point B. So they choose to fly false flags like the Guyanese or Panamanian flags, which they’re not authorized to use.

You’re allowed to seize a vessel flying a false flag, which is what shadow fleets do. And per the UNCLOS, when a ship flies a false flag, its „flag state jurisdiction“ (a ship on the high seas is under the jurisdiction of the state it’s flagged as) protection is nullified under maritime law and they become as a „stateless vessel,“ allowing any state who happens upon them to assert and exercise their own jurisdiction. The USCG literally got to swoop in and say, „I declare ~~bankruptcy~~ jurisdiction!“ and just like that they’re under US jurisdiction as if they were on US soil.

—

Since someone is bound to ask where maritime law says that, here.

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3102&context=ils:

> ### A. What is a Vessel Without Nationality?
>
> The Maritime Crime Manual defines “vessel without nationality” as follows:
>
> > A vessel that can claim no nationality, that is, a vessel that is not registered with or entitled to fly the flag of any State. Under UNCLOS article 92(2), a ship that sails under the flags of two or more States, using them according to convenience, may not claim any of the nationalities in question with respect to any other State and **may be assimilated to a ship without nationality.**

That’s describes when a flagged vessel may be treated as „without nationality,“ i.e. stateless. Flying a false flag, flying two different „flags of convenience“ (e.g., what Russia did when they first fabricated a registration and flew a false flag, and then while underway switched the flag to a Russian flag and claimed registration), etc. are all reasons.

And then regarding what you can do once you „assimilate it to statelessness“:

> ### B. What is the Jurisdictional Consequence or Significance of a Vessel Being Without Nationality?
>
> As elegantly stated in the Maritime Crime Manual, a ship (vessel) without nationality “is the term employed in UNCLOS that brings into play a series of otherwise unavailable enforcement options.” One such enforcement option is the right of visit, which is the means by which a vessel reasonably suspected, inter alia, of being without nationality can be stopped, boarded, and investigated to the extent necessary to confirm its nationality.
>
> Once statelessness (either true statelessness or through assimilation to statelessness) is confirmed through the domestic mechanisms of a would-be enforcing State, another significant “otherwise unavailable enforcement option” arises. **This is the ability of that State to assert some level of jurisdiction over the vessel** without having to worry about jurisdictional impediments that otherwise might exist if the vessel were properly flagged by another State. The principal jurisdictional constraint related to a properly flagged vessel is that such a vessel is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of its flag State on the high seas. The absence of a flag State **in the case of vessel statelessness (either true or through assimilation) removes this jurisdictional impediment, and opens the vessel up to exercises of jurisdiction by any State that wishes to assert jurisdiction.**

Tl;dr: a ship flying a false flag on the high seas allows *any state* like the US to „assimilate it to a stateless vessel“ and stateless vessels are open to having the jurisdiction of whatever state happens upon them to be exercised.

A year ago, those flag countries Russia took the flag without asking as fake ship flag would have accepted it as they were in some sort partners of Russia under the promise Russia would also help them.

Venezuela showed that Russia will not help – as it is incapabable of doing so. Russian „security guarantees“ for Putin lover countries are nil. No longer worth it.