Five tankers near Venezuela have already changed their flags to Russian ones

Tankers under US sanctions and near Venezuela have officially changed their flags to Russian ones.

The re-registration took place while the tankers were on a raid off the coast of Venezuela, The New York Times reports.

According to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, the “Marinera” (formerly Bella 1) and Hyperion vessels have been re-flagged under the Russian flag. In addition to them, three other tankers in Venezuelan waters have similarly changed their registrations in recent days.

All five vessels are under US sanctions for transporting Iranian or Russian oil. After changing their flags, they officially declared the Russian cities of Sochi and Taganrog as their ports of call.

As we will recall, on January 7 it became known that after a week of pursuit, the US had seized the Venezuelan-linked tanker “Marinera”, which had changed its flag to Russian. Before that, Russia had sent a submarine and, presumably, other ships to escort the tanker.

As previously reported by USM, about a dozen sanctioned tankers have left Venezuela amid the US actions. Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced the imposition of a maritime blockade on sanctioned tankers carrying Russian, Venezuelan and Iranian oil.