Beyond the seized oil tanker Marinera: Growing fleet reflags to Russia

The United States announced on Wednesday that it had “seized” the Marinera, an oil tanker with links to Venezuela, in the North Atlantic. During the US pursuit of this boat, the Marinera changed its name (from the Bella 1) and swapped out its former flag for the Russian flag. Turns out, this isn’t a first: experts say that Moscow has agreed to lend its flag and its protection to other so-called “dark fleet” ships attempting to circumnavigate the US blockade.