The United States has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker with links to Venezuela as Vladmir Putin's forces scrambled to the scene.

US officials have confirmed the US military and Coast Guard were trying to intercept the Marinera tanker following a two-week pursuit across the Atlantic.

The seizure, which could stoke tensions with Russia, came after the tanker, originally known as the Bella-1, slipped through a US maritime "blockade" of sanctioned tankers and rebuffed US Coast Guard efforts to board it.

It comes after US forces entered Venezuela on Saturday to seize its now-deposed president, Nicolas Maduro, who is in New York facing drug charges.

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