The oil tanker Marinera (formerly Bella 1), was captured on Wednesday by U.S. forces in the Atlantic after more than two weeks of pursuit, was under the direct protection of the Russian Navy.
Moscow has deployed a submarine and several warships to escort it, sources cited by Reuters confirmed.
The ship, linked to sanctioned oil transport networks originating from Venezuela and Iran, had changed its name and flag to Russian in December, after evading an attempted boarding by the U.S. Coast Guard. in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela.
According to U.S. officials, that maneuver was interpreted as a "deliberate action to obtain immunity under the Russian flag," a common strategy among vessels that are part of the so-called shadow fleet, created to evade international sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Kremlin ordered the deployment of a submarine and other naval assets in the North Atlantic to protect the vessel while it was being tracked by the U.S. Navy and allied NATO units.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that it "continues to monitor the situation with concern" and formally requested Washington to stop the persecution.
The Argentine journalist Nacho Montes de Oca published on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that the Russian submarine accompanied the Marinera “south of Iceland and towards the North Sea,” and that the vessel “is traveling empty, without sensitive cargo, having already become a political symbol of the challenge to the U.S. blockade.”
According to Reuters, the U.S. operation to intercept the Marinera is part of a global maritime control campaign initiated by President Donald Trump to block oil revenues from sanctioned regimes, including Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.
This would be the third interdiction operation carried out by the U.S. in the waters of the Caribbean and the Atlantic since December, under the command of Southern Command.
European defense sources cited by The Guardian indicated that the presence of a Russian nuclear submarine in the area raised alarms within NATO, although the alliance refrained from direct intervention.
The Marinera episode reflects how the economic and energy war between Washington, Moscow, and their allies is now shifting to the maritime domain, where each boarding or change of flag can escalate into a global diplomatic incident.
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