British armed forces have intercepted a Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in the English Channel in the early hours of Sunday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed.
The operation lasted around six hours and involved Royal Marine Commandos alongside specially trained officers from the National Crime Agency, supported by the Royal Air Force. The vessel, named Smyrtos, was boarded at sea as part of a coordinated enforcement mission targeting sanctions evasion linked to Russian oil exports.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the tanker will now be held and monitored off the south coast of England while investigations continue. Officials said the operation was supported by aircraft from the Maritime Air Group, an RAF P-8 surveillance aircraft, as well as Royal Navy vessels HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
Sir Keir Starmer said the operation delivers “yet another blow to Russia,” adding that it sends a clear message to those helping finance Moscow’s war in Ukraine that they will not be allowed to operate in secrecy. Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis also said Russia relies heavily on its shadow fleet to sustain its war effort, and that the interdiction directly undermines funding for what he called Vladimir Putin’s “illegal war.”
The vessel, which sails under the flag of Cameroon according to maritime tracking data, was reportedly anchored in the English Channel at the time of the operation. The so-called shadow fleet refers to a network of more than 700 tankers operating with opaque ownership structures to bypass Western sanctions on Russian oil exports, BBC reports.
The UK government said it has already sanctioned more than 500 vessels linked to the shadow fleet, banning them from entering British ports and restricting access to financial, insurance, and maritime services.
Officials said the broader strategy aims to reduce Russia’s oil revenues and “choke off funding for Russia’s war machine” in Ukraine. The operation was carried out in close coordination with French authorities, following previous joint efforts to intercept sanctioned vessels at sea.
