Admin I Wednesday, January 07.26
VLADIMIR Putin has sparked a terrifying high-seas standoff after sending a nuclear-powered submarine to intercept US forces attempting to seize a rogue oil tanker.
The Kremlin’s underwater predator was scrambled to escort the empty vessel after American warships spent weeks hunting it across the ocean.
US media reports say the Pentagon has been locked in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse to capture the tanker, which has been playing hide-and-seek in international waters.
But just as US commanders moved in for the kill, the Russian sub emerged from the depths to act as a deadly bodyguard.
Despite the shadow of Putin’s torpedoes, defiant US officials told Reuters that the mission to grab the ship—named as the Marinera—is already underway.
Elite teams from the US Coast Guard and the American military are understood to be involved in the daring boarding operation.
Washington has been desperate to impound the ship for weeks, but the arrival of Russian naval hardware has turned a routine seizure into a potential powderkeg.
One source said: “This is a direct provocation.
Putin is using his navy as a personal escort service for ships the West wants stopped.”
The White House is yet to comment on how close the two superpowers came to a direct shoot-out on the waves.
