Russia sends naval escort as US pursues sanctioned oil tanker

Russia has dispatched at least one naval vessel to rendezvous with and escort an oil tanker that the United States has been pursuing in an effort to seize it, said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, The New York Times reports.

The move deepens an escalating confrontation between Washington and Moscow over the tanker—formerly known as the Bella 1 and now operating under the name Marinera. The United States has been tracking the vessel for weeks after it attempted to evade a partial blockade around Venezuela, while Russia has taken increasingly overt steps to shield it from US enforcement.

Ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic show the tanker sailing northeast through the Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Britain with its transponder active. From that position, it could proceed into the Baltic Sea or navigate around Scandinavia toward Murmansk, Russia’s ice-free Arctic port.

The US Coast Guard stopped the tanker in the Caribbean Sea on December 21. The vessel, which began its voyage in Iran, was en route to load oil in Venezuela. At the time, US authorities said they held a seizure warrant because the ship was not flying a valid national flag. The Bella 1 refused boarding, however, and continued into the Atlantic with US forces in pursuit.

What followed was a series of efforts apparently aimed at deterring US action. The crew painted a Russian flag on the ship’s hull, the tanker was renamed and entered into an official Russian vessel registry, and Moscow formally requested through diplomatic channels that the United States halt its pursuit.

Those measures appear to have had little effect. On January 6, a video published by the Russian state-owned broadcaster—filmed from the vessel’s bridge—showed a US Coast Guard ship trailing the tanker in foggy conditions. The New York Times was unable to verify when the footage was recorded.

The tanker is part of a so-called “shadow fleet” that has transported oil for Russia, Iran, and Venezuela in violation of US and international sanctions. The United States has intensified pressure on such vessels since President Trump ordered a “complete blockade” on sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

These tankers have become an increasing source of friction between Washington and Moscow, particularly amid heightened tensions following US actions against Venezuela, a longtime Russian ally.

In the same week the Bella 1 adopted a Russian flag and new identity, another tanker operating in Venezuelan waters, the Hyperion, made a similar change. According to Russia’s official vessel registry, at least three additional tankers active near Venezuela have also recently reflagged as Russian, extending a broader pattern among ships subject to US sanctions. One of those vessels disappeared from Venezuelan waters earlier this week despite the ongoing US blockade.

All five tankers are under US sanctions for transporting Iranian or Russian oil. Registry records show that each altered its flag and declared new home ports in the Russian cities of Sochi or Taganrog, as maintained by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

By Vafa Guliyeva