US and UK aircraft ‘track sanctioned Venezuelan oil tanker bearing Russian flag’
Venezuelan oil tanker bearing Russian flag ‘tracked by US and UK’
- A Venezuelan oil tanker, known as Bella 1 and now renamed Marinera and flying a Russian flag, is currently being tracked by NATO forces off the Irish coast after evading a US blockade.
- Surveillance aircraft from the US, UK, France, and Ireland are monitoring the vessel, which fled the Caribbean Sea last month to avoid US capture.
- The tanker is part of Venezuela's “shadow fleet”, transporting oil in breach of US and international sanctions, with US officials considering boarding it.
- The Russian government has formally requested that the US cease all attempts to seize the ship, which is listed in the Russian Maritime Register.
- This operation is part of a broader US militarised pressure campaign against Venezuela, which previously resulted in the capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro.