US intercepts tanker linked to Russian oil exports in Caribbean Sea
Photo: US intercepts tanker linked to Russia's shadow fleet (Getty Images)
On Friday, January 9, the United States detained the tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea near Trinidad. This is already the fifth such interception of vessels in recent weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
According to US officials, the US Coast Guard boarded the oil tanker and continued monitoring other vessels that were attempting to bypass the US blockade on tankers traveling to and from sanctioned Venezuela.
As Reuters reports, the vessel Olina, which, according to the public shipping database Equasis, was falsely sailing under the flag of East Timor, had previously departed from Venezuela.
After that, the tanker returned to the region, where it was intercepted by US authorities.
According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate, during the G7+ oil embargo, the tanker was involved in exporting Russian crude oil and petroleum products from ports in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Pacific region. The main destinations were China, India, and Türkiye.
The international environmental organization Greenpeace classifies the vessel as part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which transports Russian oil worldwide and poses environmental risks.
Because of its involvement in transporting Russian oil and petroleum products, the tanker was subject to sanctions by several countries. The United Kingdom imposed restrictions on December 17, 2024. The United States sanctioned the vessel on January 10, 2025, and Canada followed on February 21, 2025.
It is worth recalling that on January 7, the Russian vessel Bella 1 (now renamed Marinera) was detained by US military forces for violating US sanctions.
