US set to move tanker captain from UK waters ‘imminently’, court hears in International Shipping News 27/01/2026 The United States is planning to remove the captain and first officer of a Russian-flagged oil tanker from UK waters “imminently”, a court has heard. The Americans seized the vessel, the Marinera, on 7 January south of Iceland before sailing it to the coast of Moray, east of Inverness. In a late-night virtual hearing of the Court of Session Lord Young rejected a request by lawyers for the captain’s wife to stop the US removing her husband from Scottish jurisdiction. The judge said the 1978 State Immunity Act meant he did not appear to have the power to make such an order against a foreign government. Natia Dzadzama’s lawyers had argued that her husband, Avtandil Kalandadze, who is of Georgian nationality, should be protected by the Scottish courts and European human rights law. Claire Mitchell, KC, for Dzadzama, said a “flurry of action” suggested the Americans were preparing to move the captain and first officer. She told the court: “They haven’t had access to solicitors. They haven’t had access to the outer world save for one message the captain was able to pass through to a third party. “And we have concerns that if we don’t have this interim interdict granted this evening that they may be removed from the jurisdiction.” Counsel for the UK government, Chris Pirie KC, said it was his understanding that 26 crew members had been brought ashore from the Marinera but that Kalandadze “has been transferred to a US Coast Guard vessel and that vessel is planning to depart imminently.” The Scottish government’s lawyer, Dominic Scullion, said the captain and first officer may in fact already have left UK territorial waters although he added that he was “not sure”. The court heard conflicting reports about the whereabouts in Scotland of other crew members and whether or not they were in the custody of immigration officials. Mitchell told the court it was her understanding that they had been taken from the ship to Aberdeen Airport where they had been held under the 1971 Immigration Act. But the hearing in Edinburgh also heard a suggestion that the crew members may be in Inverness. Mitchell argued that the US government was attempting to bypass established extradition processes to take the captain to the US. “The Americans have brought people to Scotland and that has made them subject to the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts. All that I’m asking for is for these people not to be moved,” she said. “All that we are asking this court to do today, is to grant an interim order to ensure that the rights of these people who have been brought to Scotland, are not violated,” added Mitchell. Lord Young did grant a limited interdict instructing the UK and Scottish governments, or anyone acting on their behalf, not to remove the captain and the crew of the Marinera until the court could further consider the case. The tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, was last spotted off Burghead at the weekend. Washington has accused the vessel of breaching sanctions by carrying oil for Venezuela, Russia and Iran. Earlier, in a statement issued by her solicitor, Aamer Anwar, Dzadzama said she believed it cannot be right “in a civilised society to abduct a whole crew in Scotland and, with assistance from the UK authorities, remove them without observing our laws.” Permission to use Russian flag The UK government backed the operation to seize the tanker, sayi