Russia suspected of striking two tankers in NATO waters, FT reports
The report comes as Washington weighs unfreezing Russian assets to revive talks with Moscow.
Published
Russia is suspected of striking two tankers in waters belonging to NATO members, the Financial Times reported.
The report gives no location, no vessel names and no response from Moscow. It follows weeks in which NATO has dealt with drone incursions and warnings of hybrid attacks without a direct hit on shipping. Poland has told the alliance to prepare for a deadlier Russian hybrid attack after earlier drone incursions were met with intercepts and statements of readiness rather than new deterrent measures.
The suspected strikes land in the middle of a separate diplomatic effort. The United States is considering unfreezing Russian assets to revive talks with Kyiv and European capitals, the Financial Times has reported, an effort already complicated by fresh drone strikes on Russian refineries. Separately, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have pitched Moscow a diesel deal meant to soften its stance in the talks, with President Vladimir Putin reportedly wanting to secure the remaining 11% of Donbas before negotiating further, according to a source close to the Kremlin.
If the tanker strikes are confirmed as a deliberate act rather than hybrid harassment, they would complicate that diplomatic track and test whether NATO treats an attack on shipping in its own waters differently from the drone and sabotage incidents it has so far called non-escalatory. That distinction will matter for insurers and shipping operators weighing whether risk in NATO waters needs to be repriced.