An oil tanker that has been evading the US Coast Guard for nearly two weeks across the Atlantic Ocean has suddenly become Russian—while still running.
The vessel formerly known as Bella 1 now appears in Russia’s official ship registry under the name Marinera, with its home port listed as Sochi on the Black Sea, The New York Times reported.
Moscow has now extended formal protection to a ship that Washington says funds terrorism.
Russia delivered a diplomatic note to the State Department on New Year’s Eve demanding that Washington halt its pursuit, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The tanker is under US sanctions for transporting Iranian crude on behalf of Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, US Treasury says. Moscow has now extended formal protection to a ship that Washington says funds terrorism.
How to become Russian in two weeks
The US Coast Guard first attempted to board Bella 1 on 21 December in the Caribbean Sea, as the tanker headed toward Venezuela to load crude oil under Trump’s “Operation Southern Spear” blockade of sanctioned vessels.
The crew refused, made a U-turn, and headed into the open Atlantic. Coast Guard cutters have been trailing about 800 meters behind ever since, The Wall Street Journal reported. The vessel also began transmitting distress signals to nearby ships—almost a hundred alerts—in an apparent attempt to complicate the pursuit.
In recent days, Coast Guard personnel spotted something new: a Russian tricolor crudely painted on the ship’s rusted hull. The crew radioed that they were now operating under Russian authority.
The Trump administration continues to view the tanker as “stateless.”
The paperwork soon followed. According to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and formally entered into Russian records—while still fleeing across the Atlantic.
US officials aren’t buying it. The Trump administration continues to view the tanker as “stateless,” arguing that when the pursuit began, the ship was sailing under a false Guyana flag.
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, vessels without proper registration can be boarded in international waters. Article 92 of the same convention states that a ship may not change its flag during a voyage.
“Merely painting a flag on the side of a hull does not immediately grant that ship that nationality,” retired Rear Admiral Fred Kenney, former director of legal affairs at the International Maritime Organization, told reporters.
From Kharg Island to the North Atlantic
Bella 1’s journey to Russian protection began in Iran. The US Treasury sanctioned the vessel in June 2024 for allegedly transporting Iranian crude on behalf of designated terrorist organizations. Between October 2021 and September 2025, the tanker directly exported 7.3 million barrels of Iranian crude oil and 3.7 million barrels of Venezuelan crude—all to China.
When signals resumed, the tanker was empty—suggesting it had transferred cargo at sea.
The Turkish company Louis Marine Shipholding Enterprises owns the ship. Its crew includes Russian, Indian, and Ukrainian nationals, US officials told reporters.
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Maritime tracking shows Bella 1 loaded Iranian crude at Kharg Island—Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf—in September before disabling its location transponder near the Strait of Hormuz. The ship remained undetected for two months. When signals resumed, the tanker was empty—suggesting it had transferred cargo at sea.
What happens next
The US military has assembled a Maritime Special Response Team—an elite unit trained to board hostile vessels by force. They’re awaiting orders from the White House.
President Trump told reporters Monday that “we’ll end up getting it.” But Moscow’s diplomatic intervention has introduced uncertainty. Forcibly seizing a vessel Russia now claims as its own could escalate tensions—and set a precedent for how the shadow fleet operates worldwide.
Adopt the ship, rename it, register it in Sochi, and dare Washington to board.
Russia’s shadow fleet includes over 1,100 aging tankers that move sanctioned oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela in defiance of Western restrictions, Ukrainian intelligence estimates. These revenues help fund Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Kyiv has responded with what officials call “kinetic sanctions”—drone strikes on shadow fleet tankers that have tripled war-risk insurance costs and driven at least one shipping company to sever ties with Russian partners.
Now Moscow has offered a different kind of protection: adopt the ship, rename it, register it in Sochi, and dare Washington to board.
The rusting hulk of Marinera, creeping north at eight knots with a hand-painted flag, will show whether that gambit works.
