Tanker tracked by US Coast Guard changes name and registers in RussiaPublished on January 2nd 13:13 GMT
Kayleen Devlin
BBC Verified Senior Journalist
Ross Atkins talks about oil tankers being tracked by the US
The tanker that the White House said the U.S. Coast Guard was tracking has been renamed and is now registered in Russia, the Russian Maritime Registry said., external.
The United States imposed sanctions late last year on suspicion of transporting Iranian oil and began tracking the Bela 1 (now called Marinera) off the coast of Venezuela.
The United States previously put pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by seizing two oil tankers in the southern Caribbean.
The tanker's AIS tracking data, which could be spoofed or forged, was last updated today and suggests the tanker is in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) west of continental Europe.
Under international law, ships flying the flag of a certain country are under the protection of that country. However, Dimitris Ampatsidis, senior risk and compliance analyst at maritime intelligence firm Kpler, told BBC Verify that changing the ship's name and flag may not make much of a difference.
“US actions are driven by the vessel's fundamental identity (IMO number), ownership/management network, and sanctions history, rather than painted markings or flag claims,” he said.
Ampatsidis added that changes to Russia's registry could cause “diplomatic friction” but would not stop any enforcement action by the United States.
