US military troops landed on the russian tanker Marinera

The seizure, which could heighten tensions with russia, came after the tanker, originally named Bella-1, slipped through a US military naval blockade of sanctioned tankers. Earlier attempts by the US Coast Guard to board the ship were unsuccessful.

Reuters sources added that russian military vessels, including a russian submarine, were nearby when the operation took place.

The tanker is the latest vessel to be pursued by the US Coast Guard since US President Donald Trump launched his campaign of pressure on the Venezuelan government.

Subsequently, the US Vice President called the tanker Bella 1 a fictitious russian vessel designed to circumvent sanctions.

JD Vance made this statement in an interview with Fox News.

US Vice President Jay D. Vance called the oil tanker Bella 1 a ‘fake russian ship’ which, according to him, was trying to pretend to be russian in order to avoid sanctions pressure.

According to Vance, last month the ship did not allow US services to board it, and at the end of December it changed its registration to russian and received a new name — Marinera. He noted that the tanker was not carrying oil, but according to the US, it belongs to a shadow fleet used to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Source: Radio Liberty, Suspilne