US seizes two Venezuela-linked tankers
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Janet Jalil, and at 16 Hours GMT on Wednesday, the 7th of January, these are our main stories. The United States says it seized a Russian tanker sailing in the North Atlantic and another one in the Caribbean, both linked to Venezuelan oil.
What led to the US seizing two tankers linked to Venezuela?
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Could decades-old bowel cancer samples help to solve the mystery of why the disease is on the rise in young people? The United States says it seized two oil tankers with connections to Venezuela. One that the US had been pursuing for weeks since intercepting it off the Venezuelan coast was boarded in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Britain. During the chase, the ship, which is reported to be empty of cargo, changed its name and adopted a Russian flag. Before the tanker was seized, Russian naval support, including a submarine, had been on its way to escort it. The second vessel, which was carrying oil and sailing under a Cameroonian flag, was seized in the Caribbean. It's now being escorted to a U.S.
port. A former Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrei Fedorov, told the BBC Moscow would take the U.S. action very seriously. For Russia, it's a very important thing because if there will be attack from U.S., it will be considered as an attack on Russia and it could lead to a very critical or maybe even crisis situation in relations between Russia and the US. The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams is following developments from Washington DC and gave this update on the seizures. The first of the two tankers was the Marinara, the vessel previously known as the Bella One. Now, this has been the subject of interest to the American authorities since an initial attempt to intercept it near the Caribbean or in the Caribbean last month.
It managed to avoid being captured at that point, headed back out into the North Atlantic, where it has finally been apprehended about 200 kilometers off the south coast of Iceland, despite, it seems, the presence nearby of a Russian submarine, which was sent apparently in an effort to escort this tanker, this tanker which had only in the last, what, 10 days or so, re-flagged itself, taken a Russian flag and changed its name. So that's the Marinara. The second of the two tankers was the Sofia, seized somewhere much closer to Venezuela. I think this brings to fore the number of vessels that the Americans have seized since early December, vessels which they say are part of a shadow fleet involved in the transportation of Venezuelan oil in defiance of American, not international, but American sanctions.
And so, You know, despite the capture of President Maduro and taking him to New York the other day, this effort to interdict and control Venezuela's oil exports continues with President Trump, of course, saying overnight that he would be making sure that the proceeds from Venezuelan oil would go to benefit the American and Venezuelan people and would be controlled by him. Why are the Americans so determined to stop this tanker, though, Paul? It is an interesting question, Matthew. I mean, is this just a rusting, empty part of the shadow fleet that has been involved in the transportation of Venezuelan oil, or is there something else? Now, interestingly, the Bella One, as it was then known, was initially sanctioned by the US Treasury Department during the Biden administration for the alleged links of its owner,
to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. And so it was regarded as having that connection in addition to any Venezuelan connection.
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