US tanker Marinera under country control, oil offloading begins, Trump announces
Donald Trump (photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump stated that the US is already unloading oil from a Russian tanker that was recently seized by American forces, according to his interview with Fox News.
During the conversation, the host touched on the topic of Venezuela and recent related events. In response to one question, Trump mentioned the Russian tanker.
“We've picked up the Russian Freighter that was out there. They had some Russian ships carding it, and they decided not to mess around with us. And we took that one, it’s unloading oil,” the US leader said.
He also emphasized that the US is taking oil worth billions and billions of dollars.
“And it will be hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars,” Trump added.
At the same time, the White House chief declined to answer whether he had spoken with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin after the tanker was seized.
Additionally, commenting on Venezuela, the US president announced that today there will be a meeting at the White House with the largest oil companies that have invested at least $100 million in Venezuela’s oil sector.
US seizes Russian shadow fleet tankers
On January 7, US forces intercepted the Russian vessel Bella 1 (now renamed Marinera) in the North Atlantic. The seizure was due to violations of US sanctions.
Media reports revealed that the ship is owned by the Russian company Burevestmarin, whose director and sole owner is entrepreneur Ilya Bugai from Russian-occupied Crimea.
Shortly afterward, it became known that in addition to the Marinera, the US also seized another vessel from the shadow fleet of sanctioned Russian ships in the Caribbean - the tanker Sophia.
Both ships had last stopped in Venezuela and were en route there.
