Media: Ukrainians, Georgians make up majority of US-seized Marinera crew

The oil tanker Marinera, seized by the United States, had been chartered by a private trader under the flag of Guyana.

It changed its flag to Russian while in the Atlantic, already being escorted by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, Caliber.Az reports, citing REN TV.

The U.S. Coast Guard began pursuing the tanker off the coast of Venezuela after failing to obtain confirmation from Guyanese authorities that the ship was sailing under their flag.

U.S. officials demanded that the captain proceed to a U.S. port, but he refused and steered the vessel into the Atlantic. En route, the tanker requested temporary registration under the Russian flag from the port of Sochi and received it legally.

Most of Marinera’s crew are Ukrainian — 20 people — along with six Georgians and two Russians.

On January 7, the United States seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic following a dramatic weekslong chase on the high seas. Simultaneously, the U.S. also announced the seizure of another sanctioned tanker, the M/T Sophia, which it said was “conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea.”

The Kremlin, a strong supporter of deposed President Nicolás Maduro, accused the U.S. of violating maritime law by seizing the Marinera.

By Khagan Isayev