Pressure on Maduro grows after US seizes ‘dark fleet’ tanker off coast of Venezuela

Move interpreted as escalation of US policy as Vladimir Putin ‘reaffirms’ support for South American dictator

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Diplomatic pressure on Nicolás Maduro has grown after the US interdicted a “dark fleet” tanker off the coast of Venezuela in a move that has been interpreted as an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure on the South American dictator.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said that the US would take the seized oil tanker, the Skipper, to a US port one day after military and law enforcement boarded it off the coast of Venezuela.

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