Pressure grows on Maduro after US seizes 'dark fleet' oil tanker off coast

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.

- Andrew Roth Washington Tom Phillips Rio de Janeiro

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, yesterday called Maduro following the rare seizure to "reaffirm" Russia's support for his govern ment despite calls from the Trump administration, other countries in the region, and the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for him to step down.

A Kremlin readout of the call said Putin called Maduro to express "solidarity" with the Venezuelan people and to continue to build economic and energy cooperation, which includes offshore oil ventures in the Caribbean sea.

Senior Democrats and at least one Republican condemned the seizure of the oil tanker, with one saying Donald Trump was "sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela".

Maduro reacted defiantly to US pressure. His government called the oil tanker seizure "blatant theft" and "an act of international piracy", adding it would "defend its sovereignty, natural resources and national dig nity with absolute determination".