The US Coast Guard has removed the captain of the hijacked tanker "Marinera", Georgian citizen Avtandil Kalandadze, and his first mate from the UK.
This was announced by the Attorney General of Scotland Ruth Charteris at a court hearing, during which a relative of Kalandadze sought an injunction against his removal, Sky News reports.
A day earlier, the court issued a temporary injunction preventing the removal of the captain and crew of the tanker from its jurisdiction. However, at the hearing on January 27, Charteris said: “The captain and first mate are already on board on the US Coast Guard vessel “Munro“ and have left UK territorial waters. At 3:04 a.m., we received an email from the US Department of Justice confirming that this is indeed the case, so, in short, they are no longer within the territorial jurisdiction of this court.“
The temporary injunction was subsequently lifted. Charteris noted that US authorities had filed a request for mutual legal assistance on January 16, which had been granted. The remaining crew members of the “Mariner“ were taken to an Army Reserve center in Inverness, Scotland, and are currently staying in a hotel in Elgin, Scotland, Charteris said. She added that none of the 26 people had requested asylum: five of them wanted to go to the US, while the rest wanted to go to other countries. countries.
Lawyer Aamer Anvar, representing Kalandadze's wife, Natia Dzadzama, said the captain and his mate were "kidnapped under the cover of darkness" and their removal from Scottish jurisdiction "could not have happened without the knowledge and cooperation of the British authorities."
The tanker "Marinera" was originally sailing under a Panamanian flag with the name Bella 1. In December 2025, it attempted to approach the coast of Venezuela despite a blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump. The tanker was subject to US sanctions and US forces began pursuing it. In late December, the ship changed its name and came under Russian jurisdiction.
According to the "New York Times," Moscow sent a formal request to Washington to stop pursuing the ship. According to the newspaper, most of the crew were from Russia, India and Ukraine.
On January 7, the “Marinera“ was detained south of the Faroe Islands. The US plans to bring criminal charges against them for evading sanctions.
On January 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that Washington ensure “dignified treatment“ of the Russian crew members, respect their rights and allow them to return home. The next day, diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Trump had decided to release two Russians - members of the tanker's crew. However, this decision had not been implemented by January 24.