Argentina to file criminal charges against oil company operating in Falklands

Argentina to file criminal charges against oil company operating in Falklands News Express newspaper The Argentine government has said it will file criminal charges against oil company Navitas Petroleum for operating in the waters near the Falkland Islands, the BBC reported, Gazeta Express reports. The move came just days after Argentine President Javier Miel said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the British overseas territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Reacting to the news, Foreign Office Minister Kirsty McNeill insisted there could be "no doubt" about the British government's commitment to the people of the Falkland Islands. The sovereignty of the archipelago remains disputed between the United Kingdom and Argentina for more than 40 years after a British military force expelled Argentine forces that had occupied the territory in 1982. Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, McNeill said that "the Falkland Islands government's decision to pursue hydrocarbon production is a commercial decision that they must make together with the commercial companies involved." She added that "the future of the Falkland Islands is for the Falkland Islanders to determine." The simmering dispute between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands heated up last week, when Milley said in a speech to the nation that the "winds of change" favored Argentina's claim to the islands. In the past, Milei has been criticized by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falkland Islands, which Argentines call Las Malvinas.