at the end of ww2 this was a respected country though there were many reasons that respect wasn't reasonable as we attacked other countries then on contrived reasons, but this is what might be called a last straw. i'm surprised the russians didn't shoot back at this pirate move;

If we wanted to make Russian President Vladimir Putin and his minions extremely angry, we have certainly accomplished that task. When I learned that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker that was displaying a Russian flag and that was being protected by Russian warships, I was absolutely stunned. I have been relentlessly warning that being extremely aggressive with the Russians will backfire severely. If we truly want peace with the Russians, diplomacy is the only solution. Punching the Russians in the face won’t work, and if we continue to go down this path it could easily lead to the unthinkable.

For those that have not heard yet, the U.S. military just seized two more oil tankers.  One of them was a Russian-flagged vessel…

The United States has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic following a dramatic weekslong chase on the high seas.

The operation to seize the sanctioned vessel, which changed its name from the Bella 1 to the Marinera after fleeing the American blockade of Venezuela last month, was carried out early Wednesday. The U.S. also announced the seizure of another sanctioned tanker, the M/T Sophia, which it said was “conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea.”..........more.........