Russia dispatches naval vessel to escort tanker the U.S. has been pursuing

Russia has sent at least one naval vessel to meet and escort an oil tanker that the U.S. military has been pursuing, according to a U.S. official briefed on the operation who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The tanker, known until recently as the Bella 1 and now called the Marinera, is sailing in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Britain with its transponder active, ship-tracking data show.

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped the tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Dec. 21 after it began a journey from Iran that would have taken it to pick up oil in Venezuela. At the time, the United States said it had a seizure warrant because the vessel was not flying a valid national flag; the ship refused to be boarded and sailed into the Atlantic with U.S.

forces in pursuit, the Times reports. In moves that appeared intended to deter the United States, the crew painted a Russian flag on the hull, the tanker was renamed and added to an official Russian ship database, and Russia made a diplomatic request that the United States halt the chase.

A video published by the Russian state-owned broadcaster RT showed a U.S. Coast Guard vessel trailing the tanker in foggy weather; The New York Times was not able to determine when the video was recorded. The dispatching of the Russian naval vessel was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Key Topics

World, Marinera, North Atlantic, Russia, U.s. Coast Guard, Shadow Fleet