Russia Vows Response After UK Says It Will Board Shadow Fleet Ships

A UK plan to authorize the British military to board shadow fleet vessels transiting UK waters is “another deeply hostile step against Russia,” and Moscow will respond using all political, legal, and other instruments at its disposal, including asymmetric measures, the Russian embassy in London said on March 27.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a March 25 statement that he had authorized military and law enforcement officers to board and detain vessels sanctioned by the UK to disrupt a network his government says ​enables Moscow to export oil despite Western sanctions.

“Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets,” Starmer said. “That’s why we’re going after his shadow fleet even harder, not just keeping Britain safe but starving Putin’s war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign in Ukraine.”

Russia ​allegedly uses the shadow fleet to sell oil while evading sanctions imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian embassy described the planned interdictions as “acts of piracy” that “rest upon unilateral sanctions that contravene international law.”

“Reckless statements about plans to attack Russian merchant ships are plain evidence of a desire to inflame an already tense situation in the spheres of security and international trade,” the Russian embassy said.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s special presidential envoy on foreign investment and economic cooperation, said in a March 26 post on X that the UK “will soon have no fuel left to ‘interdict’ anything.”

In another post on X, he said, “Energy lockdowns will replace COVID lockdowns in the EU/UK.”

Starmer attended a summit of the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Helsinki on March 26, where ​he called for greater coordination in seizing shadow fleet vessels.

UK territorial waters usually refer to 12 nautical miles from the British coast, but in the English Channel—which is only 21 miles at its narrowest point—UK waters extend to the median point, with France controlling the southern side.

That means that although the English Channel is the world’s biggest shipping lane, in the Strait of Dover, there are no international waters, and any Russian or shadow fleet vessel has to pass through either UK or French waters.

If a shadow fleet vessel wants to avoid the risk of being boarded, it will need to make a diversion around the British Isles, which adds several days and hundreds of miles onto its journey time from the Middle East, Asia, or Africa.

Earlier this week, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a post on Telegram that the situation in the world’s oceans had become “absolutely unacceptable.”

“European states such as France, Sweden and Finland are stopping vessels they deem undesirable with impunity and escorting them to their ports, accusing them of violating some so-called ‘international’ sanctions,” the ministry said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Russian embassy in London for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.