As FACT reported on Friday, a fifth oil tanker carrying Venezuelan oil was detained by US authorities in cooperation with the new Venezuelan leadership, and the news was confirmed by US President Donald Trump on TruthSocial.
“Today, the United States, in coordination with the interim authorities of Venezuela, detained an oil tanker that left Venezuela without our permission“, the statement said.
He said the tanker is now returning to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold as part of a “grand energy deal“ specifically designed for this purpose.
The US Southern Command earlier reported the detention of oil tanker Olina. It said troops from the destroyer Gerald R. Ford boarded the tanker and detained it "without incident." The tanker was detained in the Caribbean Sea near the island of Trinidad, Reuters reported.
This is the fifth such seizure of a vessel in recent weeks as part of Washington's efforts to control Venezuelan oil exports. The first two tanker seizures occurred in December after Trump announced a complete blockade of sanctioned tankers. On January 7, US forces detained two tankers: the "Marinera" (formerly the "Bella-1"), which was flying the Russian flag, and the tanker "M Sofia", which was previously flying the Panamanian flag.
Later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Trump had released two Russians - crew members. of the tanker “Marinera“, detained by the Americans in the North Atlantic. She specified that Moscow had made the corresponding request to Trump. The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the tanker was placed under the “temporary flag“ of Russia because it seeks protection from “illegal US sanctions“ in the face of the threat of detention.
On January 9, “The New York Times“ reported that a group of 16 tankers managed to escape the US naval blockade around Venezuela thanks to a coordinated attempt to break through. Most of these vessels were loaded with oil and were hundreds of miles from land. One of them, “Veronica“, changed its name to “Galileo“ and its flag to Russian this week, the newspaper reported.