Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that British troops intercepted a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the English Channel in the early hours of Sunday, marking the first UK-led naval capture since the start of the war in Ukraine. The operation involved Royal Marine commandos boarding the Smyrtos tanker, which was carrying over 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude oil from Russia to India.
Starmer released a video on TikTok showing heavily armed commandos boarding the vessel south of the Isle of Wight. 'Another bad day to be Vladimir Putin,' he posted. '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 Ministry of Defence said the six-hour operation had been months in the planning.
The Smyrtos, which had sailed under a Cameroon flag but was expelled from that registry, was legally stateless. Lt Col Tom Quinn, commanding officer of the operation, said 25 crew members of various nationalities were captured without resistance. The vessel is now anchored off the coast of Dorset near Weymouth, where authorities will monitor it for environmental or safety concerns.
British authorities say the Smyrtos is one of 700 vessels in a shadow fleet responsible for carrying 75% of Russia's oil exports, which are under international sanctions. The fleet provides Russia with critical revenue to fund its war in Ukraine. Several European countries have previously seized Russia-linked tankers, and the UK assisted France in a similar operation in June.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Britain for the detention, urging Europe to take legislative steps to enable confiscation of oil shipments. 'This will certainly help bring peace closer,' he said. The operation was supported by aircraft from the Maritime Air Group, an RAF P-8 aircraft, and navy vessels HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
