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US forces seize Russia-flagged oil tanker with Venezuela links days after Maduro ‘capture’, Moscow reacts
The officials said Russian military vessels were in the general vicinity of the operation, including a submarine. It was unclear how close they actually were.
The United States, on Wednesday, seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela after a more than two-week-long pursuit across the Atlantic, and as a Russian submarine and warship were close by, Associated Press reported, citing the US military.
The seizure, which could stoke tensions with Russia, came after the tanker, originally known as the Bella-1, slipped through a US maritime "blockade" of sanctioned tankers and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.
News agency AP reported that the US has seized 2 sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in back-to-back actions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
Two US officials cited in a Reuters report said the operation was carried out by the Coast Guard and the US military.
They added that Russian military vessels were in the general vicinity of the operation, including a Russian submarine. It was unclear how close the vessels were to the operation, which was taking place close to Iceland.
According to Reuters, this appeared to be the first time in recent memory that the US military has attempted to seize a Russian-flagged vessel. The attempt also comes just days after a dead-in-the-night operation by the US Special Forces in Caracas, which resulted in the "capture" of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last Saturday.
A senior Russian lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, Andrei Klishas, described the US action as an act of outright piracy, according to the TASS state news agency.
Russia's transport ministry said it had lost all contact with the vessel, the Marinera, after US naval forces boarded it.
Russian state broadcaster RT showed an image of a helicopter hovering near the Marinera and said it looked like US forces were trying to board the US-sanctioned tanker, which is empty.
The US Coast Guard also intercepted another fully-loaded Venezuela-linked tanker near the northeast coast of South America in the fourth such case of recent weeks, AFP reported.
Previous attempts
The US Coast Guard first attempted to intercept the vessel currently in question last month, but it refused to be boarded. Since then, it has registered under a Russian flag.
The tanker, now known as the Marinera, is the latest tanker targeted by the US Coast Guard since the start of US President Donald Trump's pressure campaign against Venezuela.
Separately, the US Coast Guard has also intercepted another Venezuela-linked tanker in Latin American waters, US officials told Reuters, as the US continues enforcing a maritime "blockade" of sanctioned vessels from Venezuela.
