Nearly 200 Russian Shadow Fleet Ships Enter UK Waters After Keir Starmer Threatened Interception

Nearly 200 so-called Russian “shadow fleet” vessels have entered UK waters since Prime Minister Keir Starmer threatened to intercept them nearly seven weeks ago, BBC Verify analysis suggests.

In March, Starmer said British armed forces “are now able to board sanctioned vessels that are passing through our waters,” but BBC Verify identified 184 UK-sanctioned vessels making 238 journeys through UK waters.

BBC

BBC Verify reports that the UK interception policy applies to both the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone, which reaches up to 200 nautical miles (230 miles; 370km) from the coastline, and in at least 94 instances to UK territorial waters extending up to 12 nautical miles (14 miles; 23km) from the coast.

The BBC says all 184 ships were tracked using MarineTraffic data between 25 March and 15:00 BST on 11 May, and that the vast majority of the tracked ships were oil tankers (173), with 10 Liquified Natural Gas tankers and one “multipurpose offshore vessel.”

BBC Verify says the government has not publicly stated or offered evidence that any of the 184 identified vessels have been boarded, while the Ministry of Defence says it is “disrupting and deterring” shadow fleet vessels without providing specific details.

Former Royal Navy warship commander Tom Sharpe told BBC Verify it was “utterly confusing” and “pathetic” that no boardings had been carried out.

BBC

Shipping lawyer James M Turner KC, a shipping lawyer at Quadrant Chambers, said “you can't seize vessels that are flying the flag of another country,” explaining that if a ship travels under a flag it is entitled to fly then there is “very little” a coastal state can do.

BBC Verify adds that MarineTraffic data is based on AIS, which can be turned off to conceal a ship’s true identity and location, and that MarineTraffic data shows many have data gaps west of Scotland and Ireland.

BBC Verify reports that one sanctioned oil tanker, Universal, appears to have been escorted by a Russian warship, based on satellite images obtained by BBC Verify.

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By matching vessel dimensions and other reports, experts from the intelligence firm MAIAR concluded the warship was highly likely to be the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich, and BBC Verify says ship-tracking data shows the tanker entered UK waters in the early hours of 8 April before transiting the Channel.

The BBC quotes the Kremlin criticising the UK’s threat to detain Russian vessels as “another deeply hostile step directed at Russia” and warning such actions “have consequences.”

BBC Verify also reports that the tracking data reveals several ships changing their usual travel pattern, including an oil tanker called Yi Tong registered to a Chinese company called Pacific Shipmanagement based in Shandong, which in 2025 travelled to and from the Port of Ust-Luga in north-west Russia to China via the English Channel.