MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina weighs protest over British patrol ship's passage to Chile

Any Argentine claim could rest on the Madrid II Agreement, signed by both countries in 1990 after diplomatic relations were restored

Argentina's foreign ministry is considering a formal statement following the transit of the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Medway, which sailed from the Falklands to the Chilean port of Punta Arenas, in an episode over which Buenos Aires and London offer conflicting accounts.

According to Argentine officials, the ship entered waters under national jurisdiction off Santa Cruz before continuing toward Tierra del Fuego and crossing to Chile, without prior notification. The Argentine Navy tracked the movement using sensors along the southern coast and reported it to the foreign ministry. The Secretariat for the Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic is assessing what steps to take.

The United Kingdom rejects that version. Foreign Office sources say the British embassy in Buenos Aires informed the Argentine foreign ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in advance of the ship's departure for Chile on logistics and resupply duties.

Any Argentine claim could rest on the Madrid II Agreement, signed by both countries in 1990 after diplomatic relations were restored. That understanding created a provisional system of mutual information and consultation intended to exchange data on military movements in the South Atlantic to prevent incidents. Specialists note that such disputes are not unprecedented since the end of the 1982 conflict.

HMS Medway, a Batch 2 River-class patrol vessel, replaced HMS Forth in January as the Royal Navy's permanent guard ship in the archipelago, tasked with maritime patrols and fishery protection. It docked at Punta Arenas' Prat pier on July 5, its first call at a Chilean port, and remained until July 8. The stop followed a humanitarian mission to Tristan da Cunha, a voyage of more than 8,000 kilometers to deliver medical aid and retrieve a health team deployed over a possible hantavirus outbreak.

The Chilean Navy said the authorization to enter national waters and the port falls within bilateral cooperation on Antarctic matters between the two countries, and was limited to a logistical call. During the stay, a British delegation led by the chargé d'affaires in Santiago, Nick Kennedy, visited the ship alongside Chilean Navy representatives, and also toured the facilities of the state shipyard ASMAR in the city.

The episode again highlights the role of far-southern ports in British logistics in the South Atlantic, a contrast with the support Chile has voiced in international forums for calls on Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume sovereignty negotiations. The Argentine government has not commented publicly on the case.