Captain of shadowy Russian-flagged tanker detained aboard US Coast Guard ship

The Marinera tanker is linked to Venezuela. After the blockade announced by the US, the vessel changed jurisdiction to Russian, trying to avoid detention.

The captain of the Marinera tanker, which the US seized this month, was taken out of British territorial waters and transferred aboard a Coast Guard ship. This is reported by Reuters.

Recall that on January 7, the US Coast Guard, together with a military unit, detained the Marinera (formerly Bella-1) vessel under a court warrant. The arrest took place near Iceland after more than two weeks of pursuit as part of Washington’s campaign to block Venezuelan oil exports. After the seizure, the tanker was transferred to an area near the coast of Scotland.

Captain Avtandil Kalandadze (a Georgian citizen) and a senior officer were already taken from British waters aboard the USCGC Munro.

Earlier, on January 26, a Scottish court issued a temporary injunction preventing the captain from being deported pending a review of the legality of his detention. However, the injunction was lifted the following morning after the court was informed that Kalandadze was already outside British territorial waters.

The British government said that at the request of the US authorities, the crew members were allowed to disembark for their onward journey and that they were being processed in accordance with immigration and legal procedures.

“Containment, disruption and increased pressure on the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for our government. Together with our allies, we are stepping up our response to shadowy vessels and will continue to do so,” the British department stressed.

The other 26 Marinera crew members were processed at the British military center in Inverness: five agreed to continue their journey to the US, the rest chose return routes to their countries.

Also recently, France took into custody the captain of the detained tanker Grinch, which is part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”