Russia blames Ukrainian drones for attack on LNG ship in Mediterranean

• Summary

• Companies

• All 30 crew members of LNG ship reported safe

• Russia calls the incident an ‘act of terrorism’

• Would be first ​attack on Russian gas carrier if confirmed

MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia’s transport ministry on Wednesday accused Ukrainian naval drones of attacking a Russian liquefied natural gas carrier, the ​Arctic Metagaz, which caught fire in the Mediterranean a ​day earlier.

If confirmed, it would be the first ⁠time that Ukraine has attacked a Russian LNG ​carrier.

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The Security Service of Ukraine did not respond to ​a request for comment.

Ukraine has frequently targeted Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure in an attempt to deprive Russia’s war ​machine of funding.

Russia’s transport ministry said all 30 ​crew members, who were Russian nationals, were safe.

“We qualify what happened ‌as ⁠an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy, a gross violation of the fundamental norms of international maritime law,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said the ​vessel, which ​had been ⁠carrying a cargo from the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk, was attacked near international ​waters belonging to Malta and thanked Maltese ​rescue ⁠services.

Ukrainian naval drones had launched their attack from the coast of Libya, the ministry said.

The vessel’s Russia-based manager ⁠LLC SMP ​Techmanagement and Russia’s largest LNG ​producer Novatek (NVTK.MM), opens new tab have not yet commented on the incident.

Reporting by Filipp Lebedev ​and Vladimir Soldatkin Editing by Andrew Osborn and Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

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• LNG
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