Moscow has condemned the United States for seizing a tanker sailing under the Russian flag, demanding that US ensure the proper treatment of Russian nationals aboard and allow them to return home swiftly.
Russia’s transport ministry said the vessel, now named Marinera, had been granted “temporary permission” to sail under the Russian flag, adding that no state had the right to use force against ships lawfully registered under another country’s jurisdiction.
Reports suggest that Russia dispatched a submarine to safeguard the tanker, although US forces boarded it without resistance.
The United States says it has seized two “shadow fleet” tankers linked to Venezuelan oil exports in back-to-back operations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
US forces boarded the Russian-flagged Marinera after a pursuit lasting nearly two weeks as it travelled through waters between Iceland and Scotland. Britain’s Royal Navy provided logistical support by air and sea during the operation.
A second tanker, the M/T Sophia, was boarded in the Caribbean. US officials accused it of “conducting illicit activities” while operating in international waters.
The White House described the Marinera previously known as Bella 1 as a “Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel deemed stateless after flying a false flag and had a judicial order” against it.
US officials said the ship had falsely flown the flag of Guyana last month, rendering it stateless under international maritime law.
Experts told an international media outlet that a vessel cannot change its flag mid-voyage unless there is a genuine transfer of ownership or registry. Under UN maritime law, stateless vessels can be boarded by authorities.
US European Command said the Bella 1 was seized “for violations of US sanctions”.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RAF) surveillance aircraft and the naval support vessel RFA Tideforce took part in the operation at US request for assistance.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the action was “in full compliance with international law” and part of global efforts to crack down on sanctions-busting.
Separately, US Southern Command said it had “apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident” in the Caribbean.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “in two pre-dawn operations today, the Coast Guard conducted back-to-back meticulously co-ordinated boarding of two ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ships,” noting that both had either last docked in Venezuela or were en route there.
The seizures come as the US seeks to choke off Venezuelan crude exports. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X: “The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT, anywhere in the world.”
Venezuela’s leadership is cooperating with the US over the M/T Sophia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they co-operate and work with the United States”.
China, the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil in recent years, has condemned the US actions, accusing US of threatening global energy security.