Russia files diplomatic request asking U.S. to stop pursuing oil tanker originally bound for Venezuela

President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro speaks during a march in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

Russia filed a formal diplomatic request that the United States stop pursuing an oil tanker originally bound for Venezuela that has evaded U.S. custody for almost two weeks, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The demarche sent to the State Department on New Year’s Eve comes as the vessel, called the Bella 1, appeared on Russia’s official register of ships under a new name.

It is unclear if the diplomatic request, first reported by The New York Times, will halt the U.S. efforts to interdict the oil tanker, which was initially headed for Venezuela before turning around to avoid seizure by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Russia’s request comes as the Trump administration continues intense efforts to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Trump has spoken twice with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past week.

The tanker is currently in the North Atlantic, according to publicly available data which was also first reported by The Times.

The White House, State Department and Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Coast Guard’s pursuit of the aging, rusted oil tanker is part of a series of increasingly escalatory actions taken by the United States against Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro, including a military buildup in the Caribbean and dozens of strikes against boats that the US has accused of trafficking drugs

Those strikes have killed scores of people and raised questions about the legality of the attacks. The boat strikes have also garnered criticism as they have come despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to extract the U.S. from foreign entanglements.

The U.S. has also begun to strike within Venezuela, CNN previously reported, with the CIA carrying out a drone strike last month on a port facility on the country’s coast.

The pursuit of the Bella 1 comes after Trump last month declared a complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers transiting to or from Venezuela. The U.S. seized two other oil tankers earlier in December.

The Coast Guard has been chasing this vessel for nearly two weeks, which first resisted seizure on Dec. 21 when it made a U-turn in the Caribbean after the Coast Guard attempted to interdict the ship as it was on its way to Venezuela to pick up oil.

While Trump has repeatedly said his hardline actions against Venezuela are part of an effort to stymie the flow of drugs into the United States, some of his closest advisers have undercut that claim.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles suggested in a series of interviews to Vanity Fair published last month that regime change, not drug enforcement, was the administration’s goal.

She said Trump wants to “keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”