US forces seize Russia-flagged oil tanker with Venezuela links days after Maduro ‘capture’, Moscow reacts

The United States, on Wednesday, seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela after a more than two-week-long pursuit across the Atlantic, and as a Russian submarine and warship were close by, Associated Press reported, citing the US military.

The seizure, which could stoke tensions with Russia, came after the tanker, originally known as the Bella-1, slipped through a US maritime “blockade” of sanctioned tankers and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.