Jan. 7 (UPI) — Russia dispatched naval vessels to protect an oil tanker being chased across the Atlantic by the U.S. military for evading American sanctions and transporting Iranian oil.
U.S. officials said Russia sent two naval ships and a submarine to escort the Russian-flagged Marinera, which is currently in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Britain, heading northeast.
The United States has deployed at least 10 special-ops military aircraft and transporter aircraft thought to be carrying helicopters to RAF bases in the United Kingdom in recent days, possibly in preparation for an interdiction.
The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to execute a warrant to seize the tanker in the Caribbean in December, when it was believed to be headed to Venezuela in contravention of a partial U.S. blockade, with U.S. officials saying Tuesday that U.S. forces now planned to board it.
The BBC said it had verified footage from the bridge of the Marinera showing a U.S. Coast Guard Legend-class vessel off at some distance.
The ship’s final destination was thought to be the Baltic Sea, or possibly the Russian port of Murmansk on the Barents Sea.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was monitoring the situation with “concern” and complained about what it said was unwarranted attention from the United States and its NATO allies.
“At present, our vessel is sailing in the international waters of the North Atlantic under the state flag of the Russian Federation and in full compliance with the norms of international maritime law. For reasons unclear to us, the Russian ship is being given increased and clearly disproportionate attention by the U.S. and NATO military, despite its peaceful status,” said the ministry.
The vessel refused to permit the Coast Guard to board on its first attempt Dec. 21 when it was en route from Iran to collect oil from Venezuela, changed course and headed back out into the Atlantic.
On the way, it painted a Russian flag on the hull, changed its name from Bella 1 to “Marinera” and listed on a Russian shipping registry, in a bid to shake off its American pursuers, which has proved unsuccessful thus far.
The New York Times reported that Hyperion and at least three other vessels plying the Venezuela route, employed similar stealth tactics, swapping their original flags for Russian ones — exacerbating already tense relations strained over the U.S. attack on Venezuela which is backed by Moscow.
All the ships are suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” moving Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and other countries around the world.
The Russian Maritime Shipping Registry records show the ships, which are all sanctioned by the United States for transporting Iranian or Russian oil, changed their home ports to Sochi or Taganrog in southern Russia and switched flags.
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