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Exclusive: US seizes Venezuela-linked, Russian-flagged oil tanker after weeks-long pursuit
Reuters ^

Posted on 01/07/2026 8:35:04 AM PST by USA-FRANCE

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker that was being shadowed by a Russian submarine on Wednesday, after pursuing it for more than two weeks across the Atlantic as part of Washington's efforts to block Venezuelan oil exports, U.S. officials said. It appeared to be the first time in recent memory that the U.S. military has seized a Russian-flagged vessel.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: maga
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Wonderful news! Russia can't cheat anymore. Those days when Russia was mocking the United States are over.
1 posted on 01/07/2026 8:35:04 AM PST by USA-FRANCE
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To: USA-FRANCE

Trump needs to tell Putin - if you ignore me on Ukraine, I’m going to ignore you on everything else including seizing this tanker. Let’s see who comes out the loser.


2 posted on 01/07/2026 8:37:52 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: USA-FRANCE

What an exciting time to be in the military. The most dangerous thing I had to do was put down stray dogs, kill chickens exposed to VVND, and a couple of aged MWD. Carter destroyed the military and I can’t imagine what Biden did.


3 posted on 01/07/2026 8:46:21 AM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: USA-FRANCE

Good on the job training for our troops. Keep them sharp, learn and get real world experience. They’ll be needing it.


4 posted on 01/07/2026 8:54:37 AM PST by toddausauras (47 47 47 )
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To: vetvetdoug

Thanks for the abbreviations. I have no idea what you are talking about and I am not going to look anything up to find out.


5 posted on 01/07/2026 8:55:31 AM PST by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
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To: USA-FRANCE

“The first time in” years? Decades? Months. Hmmm. Oh yeah, recent memory!


6 posted on 01/07/2026 8:57:27 AM PST by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
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From what I’ve seen, about 20 tankers changed their country of resistor to Russia in the last few days. This ship is one of them. I think that means Russia is playing chicken with Trump and Trump is not blinking. Your move Russia, but I suspect they will not peruse it. Russia has a lot of guns pointed at it from several different directions.


7 posted on 01/07/2026 8:57:55 AM PST by JoSixChip
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To: USA-FRANCE

Does anyone think that, just maybe, some critic of “America First” might think that Team Trump is engaging in piracy, and thus no more than morally equivalent to the Somali pirates of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean?

I can see the comparison being made. Not that I would agree with that assessment, but there are some pretty desperate rivals that want to seek ANY possible evidence of wrongdoing by Team Trump.


8 posted on 01/07/2026 9:11:39 AM PST by alloysteel (Coming in high, hot, blind, dead-stick, wheels up, outta gas, and the glide angle of a brick....)
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To: webheart

Why would you post your intent to remain ignorant? “the highly contagious and lethal form of Newcastle disease is known as viscerotropic velogenic Newcastle disease or VVND. (The term viscerotropic indicates that the virus attacks the internal organs, velogenic indicates that the disease is highly pathogenic).” WMD=Weapons of Mass Destruction.


9 posted on 01/07/2026 9:11:49 AM PST by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
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To: USA-FRANCE
Only a dumbass grenouille would cheer on something like this.
10 posted on 01/07/2026 9:15:39 AM PST by kiryandil (Resistance to The Odor is defiance to grainpidity)
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To: USA-FRANCE

My understanding is that the ship was called ‘Bella-1’ and when it got wind that it was being pursued, it shut off its transponder, and while escaping it changed its registration to ‘Marinera’ and its flag to a Russian flag.

It was not Russian from the start.


11 posted on 01/07/2026 9:16:33 AM PST by Toughluck_freeper
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To: JoSixChip; All
Not to pick on you personally, but WTF??? I have seen all manner of misused words today ...

"country of resistor" ???

"I suspect they will not peruse it" ???

May I humbly suggest that we all should peruse our comments before hitting the "Post" button? Spell-check and voice-to-text are not reliable.

12 posted on 01/07/2026 9:18:50 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Froggie; frog; Allegra; Rocco DiPippo; JonPreston
dumb neocon froggo alert.


13 posted on 01/07/2026 9:19:08 AM PST by kiryandil (Resistance to The Odor is defiance to grainpidity)
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To: USA-FRANCE

From what I have read in multiple sources, it is not actually a Russian ship. And not legitimately flying Russian colors. So the whole thing is somewhat misleading, best I can tell. It’s made to sound like a USA versus Russia situation, but I don’t think it’s really that.


14 posted on 01/07/2026 9:25:44 AM PST by GrumpyOldGuy
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To: USA-FRANCE

Scott Ritter:
“All Donald Trump is doing is extending the conflict and guaranteeing that Ukrainians continue to die a rate of 90,000 a month.”

Trump is now the Commander in Chief of Ukraine!


15 posted on 01/07/2026 9:27:11 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Annnd....I voted for this too!)
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To: kiryandil; USA-FRANCE; Allegra; Rocco DiPippo

I never met USA-FRANCE, but I can tell he has poor hygiene and smells of pee.


16 posted on 01/07/2026 9:29:35 AM PST by JonPreston ( ✌ ☮️ )
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To: vetvetdoug

and a couple of aged MWD.

I read that as “aged WMD.” I wondered how you kill an aged weapon.


17 posted on 01/07/2026 9:31:14 AM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait.)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

...and that’s what he is doing.


18 posted on 01/07/2026 9:33:36 AM PST by libh8er
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To: USA-FRANCE

The midterm elections are just 10 months away.

And Democrats seem just as clueless as always. Their constant shrieking over everything President Donald Trump does (or doesn’t do) leaves them without a plan of their own – and often makes them look like hypocrites.

Case in point: the Trump administration’s recent bold move to capture Venezuelan dictator (“President”) Nicolás Maduro and hold him to account.

Whether you like how Trump carried out the operation, what shouldn’t be hard to acknowledge is that Maduro terrorized his citizens and made a mockery of democracy by rigging his country’s elections. Venezuelans in the United States and around the world are celebrating what Trump did.


19 posted on 01/07/2026 9:44:03 AM PST by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta)
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To: USA-FRANCE

Don’t go getting a chubby and tossing off to Russia news. It wasn’t a Russian tanker.

According to Fox Earlier in the day
“A Venezuela-linked oil tanker operating in the so-called “dark fleet” painted a Russian flag on its hull, changed its name, and reflagged to Russia in an apparent bid to evade the U.S. Coast Guard, according to reports.”


20 posted on 01/07/2026 9:46:03 AM PST by Jarhead9297
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