Mike Baker

Plus, President Trump issues a stark warning to Cuba following Nicolas Maduro's ouster, urging Havana to make a deal with Washington.

And in today's Back of the Brief, a viral eyewitness account from Venezuela raises questions about a mysterious weapon used during the U.S.

raid to capture Maduro.

But first, today's BDB Spotlight.

The United Kingdom appears to be quietly preparing to join the United States in seizing Russian-linked Shadow Fleet oil tankers at sea, with British officials determining that they now have the legal authority to do so under existing sanctions law.

That authority would allow British forces to detain vessels believed to be evading sanctions, particularly ships operating under false flag or fraudulent flags in international waters.

The UK move comes as Russia has altered its own strategy at sea, reflagging large portions of its shadow fleet with Russian flags, often in the middle of an active voyage.

These are tankers used to move sanctioned oil, of course, from Russia and Iran and Venezuela using deceptive tactics, false paperwork, manipulated tracking data, frequent name changes and flags of convenience from countries with little enforcement capability.

We've discussed the shadow fleet extensively here on the PDB.

What's new is Moscow's decision to stop hiding behind obscure registries and instead hoist the Russian tricolor.

The logic is straightforward, I suppose.

It's a Russian flag is meant to raise the political and military cost of enforcement.

Boarding an anonymous tanker attempting to fly under the radar is one thing.

Boarding a ship that Russia claims as its own is something else entirely.

The re-flagging strategy appears designed to force Washington, and now potentially London, to weigh the risk of direct confrontation with Russian forces.

But so far, that strategy has failed.

As we've reported in recent weeks, U.S.

forces have seized multiple sanctioned tankers despite Russian naval escorts and aircraft operating nearby.

In one high-profile case, American military boarded a tanker while Russian vessels were communicating with its crew, and Russian aircraft flew overhead.

The boarding went forward anyway.