Why has Trump seized a Russian-linked oil tanker? – The Latest

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0:30It still comes as a surprise that they decided to board it and seize it, just because it risks such a big confrontation with Russia. Why the US has seized two sanctioned oil tankers, including one in European waters with support from the UK. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoff. I'm joined by Pyotr Sauer, who's our Russia affairs correspondent. Thanks for being with us, Pyotr. So it's been a really dramatic hour or so. two ships seized by the US, one in the North Atlantic off the coast of Iceland, the other in the Caribbean. That first one seems particularly interesting.

1:08Give me a breakdown of what's happened. The sieges are part of Donald Trump's larger campaign to capture Venezuelan-linked ships after he announced a blockade on all ships going in and out of Venezuela. But as you said, the capture of one of the ships is particularly interesting because it was sailing under a Russian flag and it was captured between Iceland and Scotland. And it's the first time in recent history that the US boarded and seized a Russian ship. Or certainly one that's flying under a Russian flag, as is the case with this one. So before we come into details about the ship, just tell me about how this operation unfolded.

1:49Yeah, the details are still emerging, but we know that both Russia and the US have put in considerable efforts to protect the ship or in the US case to take it over. We've seen images published by Russia Today, by Russia's state channel that showed helicopters approaching the ship. We know there was a lot of military activity hours before the ship was boarded. At the same time, we also know that Russia has sent in submarine hours before the ship was taken in order to protect the ship, which is called Marinara. But it seems like their efforts have failed because the US has now officially acknowledged that they've captured the ship.

2:27So this wasn't a surprise, was it, this operation? There were reports at the start of this week that the US was planning to press ahead with plans to seize this ship. In particular, as you say, it's a ship that the US has had its eye on for some time. Why is that? So the US first announced that it was following the ship in December, at the end of December. It actually tried to board the ship on the 19th of December and it failed at the time. The ship actually used to be called Bella and it wasn't flying on the Russian flag. It was sailing on the Gryan flag. But after it failed to board it, the ship decided to change name and the crew hastily painted the Russian flag on it.

3:10And Russia actually deregistered it on its own listing so it became a Russian ship. It was all done in order to protect the ship from being captured by the US. The ship was first sailing near Venezuela, but after this failed capture, it left the Caribbean and it sped throughout the Atlantic. And I think while the US was saying that it was monitoring the ship, I think it still comes as a surprise that it decided to board it and seize it, just because it risks such a big confrontation with Russia. Yeah, and indeed, has there been any response from Russia? Could this be seen as an act of aggression to the Russian states?

3:49Well, Russia's foreign ministry earlier this week warned the US against seizing the ship. It told the US to back off, but it doesn't seem like the warnings have had an impact on the US. So far, the Kremlin hasn't commented on the actual seizure. We know that the Ministry of Transportation just issued a statement saying that the seizure was illegal. But so far, nothing yet from Putin or the Kremlin. The timing of this operation is very interesting. Russia continues to try to establish good relationship with Trump. At the same time, Putin just lost a key ally with the capture of Maduro. So, you know, it's yet to be seen whether Putin will make a big fuss out of this or will just try to play it down in order to save his face and to keep working relations with the Trump administration.

4:38So the self-styled Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has issued a post on X saying that this is the blockade in full effect in capitals. And so you mentioned that this is part of a strategy that was announced last month to sanction ships linked, the U.S. says, to Venezuelan oil. This is part of that operation. But like you say, this is a very risky move, given the fact that this was flying under a Russian flag in the instance of the first ship. Yes, I think it sends a signal that, you know, the US prioritizes capturing and seizing ships that have links to Venezuela, even though the ship was initially sanctioned by the US for transporting oil from Iran.

5:21But it sends a signal that it's, you know, it's not afraid to capture ships, even the sail on the Russian jurisdiction. And it does risk a potential confrontation. And in that sense, we're sort of in uncharted waters here, because for now, Putin and Trump have had a pretty warm relationship. Obviously, Ukraine and the West has been very worried about their relationship. And the big question is whether this incident could finally fracture their bromance. Yeah, it's a big question. And another big question is the extent to which the US had support from other countries. And we've literally just had confirmation from the British government that it did offer the US support in this seizure.

6:04I quote, pre-planned operational support, including basing, as per a statement from the Defence Ministry. The Defence Secretary John Healy says this action forms parts of global efforts to crack down on sanctions busting. So obviously the details will continue to emerge about the extent to which and how the UK worked with the US on this. But striking that it would choose to do so at a time when tensions are really at high between the US and Europe, given what happened in Venezuela over the weekend and its implications on other countries such as Greenland. An operation comes at a very sensitive moment for Europe and the US.

6:40Obviously, there's been a lot of concern in Europe over Trump's rhetoric, over Greenland that he's going to acquire or even invade Greenland. So maybe this is a moment where the US and Europe are able to cooperate and the UK is hoping to show its goodwill towards Donald Trump. But I think we'll hear more about the operation details in the coming hours. So Pyotr, these are being described as ghost fleets, so they weren't actually carrying any oil, right? So why are these ships so interesting to the US and also to Russia, given that one of them was under a Russian flag? So as far as we know, this ship was sailing from Iran to Venezuela to actually pick up oil.

7:22It wasn't able to pick up oil because of the blockade and then it turned away. So initial reports suggested the ship was empty and wasn't carrying anything. which is always interesting in itself, why Russia was willing to sort of risk this big confrontation with the US, why it sent a submarine to protect the vessel. You know, there's speculation whether there are other things involved. Maybe there were weapons on the ship. At this point, we don't know. But it's clear for the US that it wants to send a signal that no matter under which jurisdiction a ship is sailing, it's ready to seize one and follow it practically around the globe.

8:02But Piotr, there are other ships that have been sanctioned by the US, haven't there, as part of those measures taken last month. So this is likely not to be the last operation that we'll see. I think US officials have indicated they're willing to seize more ships. They've actually seized another ship in the Caribbean, as you mentioned earlier, on the same day. And I think this is a situation where both European and US officials can actually agree on for once, because Europe has been very vocal about sanctioning Russian oil ships, the so-called dark fleet that Russia uses to transport oil together with its allies, Iran and Venezuela.

8:42So I think we won't see much friction between US and Europe over the seizures of these ships. If anything, I think the two powers will cooperate more. We will keep a close eye on things. And thanks for your reporting, Peter. Thank you.

9:00That's it for today. My thanks again to Piotr Sauer. You can keep up with all his reporting as well as our live blog on this story over at theguardian.com. Today in Focus, we'll be back with you tomorrow morning with a look inside Venezuela in the days after the US attack. We'll be back with you tomorrow night. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. The producer was Bryony Moore and the lead producer was Zoe Hitch.

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