Britain intercepted a Russian 'shadow fleet' vessel in the English Channel
British armed forces intercepted a Russian 'shadow fleet' oil tanker in the English Channel on Sunday night, the BBC writes .
During the six-hour operation, Royal Marine commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency, supported by the RAF, boarded the tanker Smyrtos.
The operation was supported by aircraft from the Maritime Aviation Group, an RAF P-8 aircraft, and the ships HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury. The oil tanker Smyrtos sails under the flag of Cameroon and is currently, according to Marine Traffic data, anchored in the English Channel.
The operation, conducted on Sunday morning, was carried out in cooperation with France, the Ministry of Defence reported. The statement said that the vessel has been detained and will be kept under surveillance near the south coast while an investigation is conducted.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that he had ordered the interception.
“This successful operation deals another blow to Russia and reminds those who fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not allow them to hide,” Starmer wrote in his post on X.
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said: “Russia relies on its ‘shadow fleet’ to finance the conflict in Ukraine, and our interception measures strike a blow against Putin’s illegal war.”
Russia uses a ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers with opaque ownership structures to circumvent international sanctions imposed on its oil exports. According to the Ministry of Defence, the ‘shadow fleet’, consisting of more than 700 vessels and responsible for transporting 75% of sanctioned Russian oil, is a vital supply line for the Kremlin. Britain has already imposed sanctions on more than 500 vessels.
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