UK forces intercepted a Russian shadow fleet vessel for the first time, after British commandos boarded a sanctioned oil tanker in the English Channel on Sunday.
The vessel Smyrtos, sailing under a Cameroonian flag, was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency (NCA) officials in the early hours of June 14, with support from Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, Merlin Mk4 commando helicopters, and Wildcat naval aircraft.
The operation was conducted in close coordination with France.
“This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fuelling Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a June 14 post on X.
Video footage of the raid released by the government shows British commandos abseiling onto the vessel, while NCA officials are seen searching through documentation.
In a June 14 post on X, the NCA said that a 38-year-old Indian national has now been arrested by NCA officers on suspicion of sanctions offences under the Russia Regulations.
“He has been taken into custody, where he will be interviewed by NCA investigators. Our investigation continues,” it said.
Lt. Col. Tom Quinn told reporters that while there were a number of risks involved in the operation, it was a core part of the commandos’ training and they had not faced any resistance.
“Once we boarded the vessel and moved to the bridge the dialogue that we had with them was professional, safe, and indeed the crew enabled us to conduct the actions that we needed to complete to safely take control of that vessel and move it to an anchorage,” he said.
The tanker will be detained and monitored off the south coast of England as investigations continue, a government statement said.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied the Marines’ tanker raid was “staged for the cameras” after a Conservative MP raised “serious questions” about the footage.
“How is the cameraman ahead of the Marines clearing the stairwell to be able to film them coming towards him. How has the cameraman gone past the open doors of rooms that haven’t yet been cleared?” Ben Obese-Jecty said in a June 15 post on X.
A MoD spokesman told GB News on June 15 that the footage had been taken after initial forces “cleared” the tanker to ensure filming could be done safely, but denied it had been “staged.”
The UK has sanctioned almost 600 Russian shadow fleet vessels to date, the government said.
Starmer’s defense secretary resigned last week over a dispute about military spending.
Earlier this year, Starmer gave the military permission to board ships that make up Russia’s shadow fleet if they are passing through UK waters, including the English Channel.
French forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker sailing in the Atlantic from Russia on May 31. The operation was supported by the UK, French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 1.
“This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,” Macron said in a June 1 post on X.
“It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and finance the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years.”
France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on June 1 that the French navy had intervened on an oil tanker, which it did not name, more than 400 nautical miles (460 miles) west of the tip of Brittany, which had been heading out from Murmansk, Russia.
“This operation was aimed at checking the nationality of a vessel suspected of flying a false flag,” it stated.
“After the inspection team boarded the vessel, an examination of the documents confirmed suspicions regarding the irregularity of the flag flown. In accordance with international law and at the request of the public prosecutor, the vessel was diverted.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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