WASHINGTON, January 7. /TASS/. The United States military will continue the blockade of Venezuelan oil shipments and will detain stateless or sanctioned tankers, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said.
"It continues because two oil tankers, two overnight, were seized by the United States of America. Stateless or sanctioned because the oil blockade, the quarantine of oil out of sanctioned or stateless vessels continues. That leverage will continue," he said.
The Pentagon said earlier that the Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera had been detained in the North Atlantic. "The @TheJusticeDept & @DHSgov, in coordination with the @DeptofWar today announced the seizure of the M/V Bella 1 for violations of U.S. sanctions. The vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro," The US Souhern Command wrote on its X account. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth linked the detention of the Russian tanker to the embargo on Venezuelan oil.
Earlier in the day, the Russian ministry of transport said that at about 3:00 p.m. Moscow time (12:00 a.m. GMT) on January 7, the US naval forces boarded the vessel in international waters outside territorial waters of any states. Contact with the ship has been lost. In accordance with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the high seas are governed by the principle of freedom of navigation, and no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered under the jurisdiction of other states, the ministry stressed.
The Russian foreign ministry stated that Moscow is closely following reports about the US troops boarding the Marinera Russian-flagged vessel in the North Atlantic. Russia demands the American side ensure proper and humane treatment of them, strictly observe their rights and interests, and put no obstacles for their soonest return to the motherland.