Washington: The United States, on Wednesday, seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker which was being shadowed by a submarine from Russia, after a pursuit that lasted more than two weeks across the Atlantic Ocean, as per a Reuters report.
This attempt to seize the vessel is part of the US’ effort to create a ‘blockade’ of oil exports from Venezuela, as per two officials the news agency spoke to.
This is the first time in recent years that the United States has seized a Russian-flagged vessel.
In a post on X, the U.S. military’s European Command said the Trump administration had seized the vessel for violating U.S. sanctions.
“The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT — anywhere in the world,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in reply to that post.
Moscow has not yet made any official comment regarding the situation. RT, the Russian state media, however, did release an image of an helicopter hovering over the ship.
The operation comes in the wake of US special forces dropping into Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, before dawn on Saturday and raiding the residence of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. They then captured Maduro along with his wife and flew the couple to the US. They were handed over to federal authorities by the US Army.
