The United States has intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker identified as part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, US authorities said on Monday, Feb. 9. According to a statement published on X by the US Department of Defense, US military forces carried out a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the tanker Aquila II in the Indo-Pacific region “without incident.”JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The department said the vessel was operating in defiance of a US-imposed quarantine on sanctioned ships and was tracked by American forces from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean before being intercepted. Ukraine’s military intelligence-linked War&Sanctions portal identifies Aquila II as a tanker involved in exporting sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products from ports in the Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Pacific region, often using deceptive shipping practices. The tanker is linked to Sunne Co Limited, a company sanctioned by the United States on Jan. 10, 2025, for operating in Russia’s energy sector. On the same date, the US also imposed sanctions directly on Aquila II as property in which the company held an interest. According to international shipping databases cited by War&Sanctions, the vessel’s flag status is officially listed as unknown, although it has been operating under the Panamanian flag.