Trump dodges question on Putin call after US seizes Russian oil tanker
Photo: US President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News, refused to answer whether Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had called him after U.S. forces seized the oil tanker Marinera.
A journalist asked Trump whether Putin had called him following the seizure of the tanker.
"I don’t want to say that, but the fact is that the Russian ships — there was a submarine and a destroyer — they both left very quickly when we arrived, and we took over the ship, and the oil is being unloaded right now," the US president said.
According to Trump, the oil carried by the tanker is already being unloaded.
US detains shadow fleet tankers
Earlier, on January 7, the Russian vessel Bella I (now called Marinera) was detained by US forces for violating US sanctions.
The oil tanker was seized in the North Atlantic under a warrant issued by a US federal court after it was tracked by the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Munro.
It later emerged that, in addition to the tanker Marinera in the Atlantic Ocean, the United States also seized another sanctioned Russian “shadow fleet” vessel in the Caribbean Sea — the tanker Sophia.
Both vessels — Bella I and Sophia — had last docked in Venezuela or were en route there.
The US Department of Justice is preparing to file criminal charges against members of the crew of the oil tanker Bella I, which was detained in the Atlantic Ocean for violating US sanctions.
According to US Vice President JD Vance, the seized tanker was only pretending to be Russian in order to evade sanctions.
Media reports indicate that the tanker Marinera seized by the United States belongs to the Russian company Burevestmarine, whose director and sole owner is businessman Illia Buhai from Crimea, which is occupied by Russia.
