A former Russian general has blamed Ukraine for a March 26 attack on the Altura oil tanker, a Turkish-operated vessel sailing under the Sierra Leone flag, in the Black Sea, the Medyagunlugu news website reported.
Retired Russian intelligence general Nikolay Plotnikov said the strike targeted not only Russia’s energy infrastructure but also Turkey’s growing role as an energy consumer and transit hub.
“This attack is also Ukraine’s doing,” Plotnikov said, arguing that Kyiv and its Western backers were trying to disrupt Russia’s energy exports.
He said attacks on the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines as well as Russian ports in the Baltic Sea were part of the same pattern.
Plotnikov also claimed Ukraine could not have carried out attacks on Turkish-linked vessels without the backing of NATO allies, including the United Kingdom and Germany.
Another Russian military analyst, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, described the strike as a “terrorist act” and said it had been carried out with support from the United States and other NATO countries.
He added that such an attack risked causing an environmental disaster and disrupting shipping in the Black Sea, affecting not only Russia but also Turkey and other coastal states.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said a commercial vessel targeted in an attack in the Black Sea on March 26 was located in Turkey’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), condemning the incident as a violation of international law.
A Turkish-operated oil tanker was attacked early on March 26 about 18 nautical miles (33 kilometers) from the Bosporus, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said, noting that an explosion occurred in the vessel’s engine room.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli later clarified in a statement on X that the attack took place within Turkey’s EEZ, a maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a country’s coast where it has rights over natural resources.
“Such attacks pose serious risks to the safety of life, property, navigation and the environment in the region,” Keçeli said.
He said the 27 crew members, all of whom are Turkish nationals, were uninjured and that authorities were carrying out technical inspections and response efforts.
Keçeli also said Ankara reserves the right to take necessary measures under international law to protect its economic interests.
The tanker, identified as the Altura, is under sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United Kingdom. The UK added the vessel to its sanctions list on February 24, citing its role in transporting Russian-origin oil to third countries.