US forces have boarded a sanctioned oil tanker that eluded a blockade around Venezuela and has been reflagged as a Russian vessel.
Military and Coast Guard personnel boarded the ship, formerly known as the Bella 1 and now called the Marinera, in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the British Isles Wednesday morning, Fox News and Reuters reported.
Multiple outlets reported late Tuesday that Russia had dispatched military ships and a submarine to help the vessel reach its waters ahead of the American pursuit.
The ship eluded a sweeping US quarantine of vessels transporting oil to and from Venezuela — a blockade President Trump imposed late last year ahead of Saturday’s arrest of the South American country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
