Beyond the seized Marinera tanker: a growing fleet passes under the Russian flag

The United States announced Wednesday that it had “seized” the Marinera, an oil tanker with connections to Venezuela, in the North Atlantic. During the American pursuit of this boat, the Marinera changed its name (from Bella 1) and swapped its old flag for the Russian flag. It turns out that this is not a first: experts say that Moscow has agreed to lend its flag and protection to other so-called “black fleet” ships trying to circumvent the American blockade.