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Putin sends navy escort as Trump ‘plans to seize’ banned Venezuelan oil tanker

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Russian-flagged oil tanker trailed by US Coast Guard before banned Venezuelan ship seized in Atlantic

Video appears to show a US Coast Guard ship sailing close to the Marinera, an empty oil tanker that has been trying to evade a US blockade near Venezuela.

Footage published by Russia Today, a state-controlled media group, appeared to be filmed from on board Marinera, one of a Venezuelan “shadow fleet” of tankers carrying oil in breach of US and international sanctions. It shows a ship in the distance appearing to match the appearance of a US Coast Guard Legend-class cutter.

The Marinera, formerly known as Bella 1, has renamed itself and painted a Russian flag on its side in an apparent bid for Russian protection.

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