Russia sent a submarine to escort an empty oil tanker that the US military has been pursuing and attempting to seize for weeks, US media reported on Tuesday.
The US has been chasing the oil tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, since it evaded a US blockade around Venezuela and thwarted a US Coast Guard attempt to board it last month.
Since being pursued by the US Coast Guard, the vessel has switched its registration to Russia, changed its name to the Marinera and the tanker’s crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the tanker last month.
Photo: AP
It had been en route to Venezuela, but was not carrying cargo before it evaded the blockade.
US officials said the tanker is part of a shadow fleet carrying oil for countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in contravention of US sanctions.
Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the tanker nearing Iceland’s exclusive economic zone yesterday.
Russia sent “a submarine and other naval assets” to escort the tanker, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officials.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier on Tuesday said that it was “following with concern” the US pursuit.
The ministry told state-run media prior to reports of the escort that the vessel was sailing under the Russian flag and was far from the US coast.
Separately, the names, ranks and ages of 32 Cuban military personnel killed during the capture of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by US forces were published on Tuesday by the Cuban government.
Among the deceased are colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains, as well as reserve soldiers, ranging in age from 26 to 60. The uniformed personnel belonged to the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, it said.
The publication did not specify their missions or exactly how they died.
Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez said that Cubans were “prepared to give their lives” against any US intervention as Havana pondered a future without Maduro as Venezuela’s leader.
“The US president, displaying a complete lack of understanding about Cuba ... blasphemes against and threatens our people,” Rodriguez wrote on X. “Our valiant people, true to their history of struggle, will defend their nation against any imperialist aggression.”
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
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MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
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