US seizes new Russian shadow fleet tanker for violating Trump rule | World | News
US forces in the Indian Ocean have seized a tanker, understood to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, after tracking it for thousands of miles from the Caribbean, the Department of Defense has said. According to US officials, the ship – named Aquila II – was operating in defiance of a US “quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” imposed by Donald Trump’s administration.
“It ran, and we followed,” the department said on X (formerly Twitter), adding: “No other nation on planet Earth has the capability to enforce its will through any domain. By land, air, or sea, our Armed Forces will find you and deliver justice. You will run out of fuel long before you will outrun us.” Forces boarded and inspected the tanker, which was reportedly involved in the export of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products from Russian ports in the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Pacific region, including through deceptive practices.
Aquila II is affiliated with Sunne Co Ltd, a shipping company based in Dalian, China, and heavily involved in transporting Russian and Venezuelan crude oil, which the US sanctioned on January 10 last year for activity in Russia‘s energy sector. Restrictions were subsequently imposed by the UK, the EU, Canada, Switzerland and Ukraine.
A video accompanied the social media post, showing US service personnel in military fatigues boarding the ship via helicopter.
“When the [defence department] says quarantine, we mean it,” the US Department of Defense said in its X post, adding that nothing would stop the US military from enforcement, “even in oceans halfway around the world”.
This is the latest of several seizures by the US in recent months, as Donald Trump‘s administration moves to control the supply of Venezuelan oil – the country’s main economic resource. On January 9, the US seized the tanker, Olina, in the Caribbean Sea, two days after forces took control of two tankers, including the Russian-flagged vessel Bella 1 (Marinera), which they had pursued for more than two weeks.
Since the blockade was imposed, Venezuelan oil exports have been dramatically reduced, with only ships associated with Chevron – the only American company that has continued drilling in recent years – and bound for the US operating as usual. The BBC reported in January that loadings had roughly halved to about 400,000 barrels daily that month, according to Matt Smith, head of US analysis at Kpler.
In December, the US military seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from his home in Caracas during a raid and implemented a blockade of oil shipments.
