US military seizes Venezuela-linked Russian oil tanker
Al Jazeera
Russian submarine and warship were in the vicinity of the Marinera as the US operation unfolded, news report says.
The United States military has commandeered a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela in the North Atlantic after a weeks-long pursuit.
The US military’s European Command said on Wednesday that the Marinera oil tanker, originally known as the Bella-1, had been seized “for violations of US sanctions”.
“The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT — anywhere in the world,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media.
The operation came after the Marinera slipped through a US maritime “blockade” of sanctioned tankers going to and from Venezuela and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.
American officials have said the tanker is part of a so-called shadow fleet that has carried oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia, and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
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