Keir Starmer Directed UK Forces To Intercept Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker Smyrtos In English Channel

British armed forces intercepted and boarded the Russian shadow fleet oil tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel in the early hours of Sunday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying he directed the operation and posting: “In the early hours of this morning, I directed our armed forces to intercept a shadow fleet oil tanker attempting to pass through the English Channel.”

The BBC reported that the National Crime Agency arrested an Indian national on suspicion of sanctions offences after the operation mounted by Royal Marine Commandos along with the NCA on Sunday, and the NCA said 24 Georgian and Indian crew members remained aboard the Smyrtos anchored off the Dorset coast.

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The Guardian said the MoD described the six-hour operation as the first time the UK has led a naval capture since the start of the war in Ukraine, and it said the Smyrtos was carrying more than 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil.

The BBC added that the MoD said the operation happened in international waters because it was more than 12 nautical miles from the UK coast, and that it was in full compliance with both domestic and international law.

Tracking data cited by the Guardian said other shadow vessels turned around to avoid the Dover strait on Sunday, and it said the Smyrtos is now anchored off the coast of Dorset near Weymouth.

Starmer framed the seizure as a blow to Russia’s war effort, saying in a post on X that “This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fuelling [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide.”

Dan Jarvis, the defence secretary, said in a statement that “Russia relies on its shadow fleet to fund its conflict in Ukraine and our interdiction delivers a blow to Putin’s illegal war,” while the BBC described the interception as the first of its kind carried out by UK armed forces.

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The Guardian reported that the MoD said the six-hour operation had been months in the planning, and it noted that the rhetoric from Starmer was heightened despite Downing St announcing in March that Starmer had given the green light for the British military to board the shadow fleet tanker under sanction.

CNN reported that a Kremlin envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said Starmer was “using the detention of a tanker as a distraction from the (UK’s) migrant crisis,” adding a hostile reaction to the UK’s action.

The BBC also said the MoD spokesman described the interception as the result of weeks of military and political planning, conducted in close co-ordination with the French, building on recent support provided by the UK to its allies.

The MoD said the Smyrtos would be provisionally moved to an anchorage off the South Coast of England and monitored for any environmental or safety concerns, after the six-hour operation in which commandos fast-roped from a helicopter onto the tanker.

“British forces have seized a Russian shadow-fleet oil tanker that was trying to transit the English Channel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer says”

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The BBC said the MoD described the interception as being in full compliance with both domestic and international law, and it reported that the vessel began its journey on 5 June from Russia’s Ust-Luga port near St Petersburg before crossing west into the Channel on Saturday.

The Guardian reported that British authorities say the shadow fleet is one of 700 vessels responsible for carrying 75% of Russia’s oil exports under international sanctions, and it said the shadow fleet provides Russia with a critical lifeline that allows oil to be sold and funds generated to continue the war against Ukraine.

In a separate development, the BBC said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in March that British armed forces were “now able to board sanctioned vessels that are passing through our waters,” and it tied the Sunday operation to that policy shift.

The BBC also said the MoD reported that the UK has sanctioned more than 500 such ships, and it reported that Russia has previously described similar interceptions as illegal and “bordering on international piracy.”