Russian shadow fleet vessel formally detained off British coast after Royal Marine commandos seizure
British authorities have officially detained a Russian stay-behind fleet ship intercepted in the Channel by Royal Navy commandos and National Crime Agency officers on Sunday.
This marks the first UK-led operation to seize a sanctioned ship.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed the official detention on Monday, issuing an order preventing the ship from leaving UK waters.
Smyrtos, sailing under the Cameroonian flag but deemed “stateless” by the UK government, is anchored off Weymouth, Dorset.
Royal Navy ships HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury also participate in the operation.
Ms Alexander said: “Today I took the decision to detain a sanctioned shadow fleet ship traveling across the Channel carrying Russian oil that helps finance Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine.”
A 38-year-old Indian national was also arrested on suspicion of sanctions offences, and 24 other Georgian and Indian crew members are understood to remain on board and assist with the investigation.
Moscow’s shadow fleet reportedly consists of more than a thousand old tankers that have been illegally extracting oil and other goods from Russia flying the flags of other countries in a bid to evade sanctions imposed by the West since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
British forces have been involved in tracking shadow fleet ships for several years and have supported other countries’ seizure operations.
But Sunday’s operation was the first time UK personnel had directly seized a sanctioned ship as the Government sought to force shadow fleet ships to use longer, more expensive routes or risk being stopped.
On Sunday, Sir Keir Starmer announced that British armed forces had captured a Russian shadow fleet ship in the Channel in the early hours of Sunday.
The Smyrtos ship will be temporarily moved to an anchorage off the south coast of England and monitored for any environmental or safety concerns.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the operation was supported by aircraft from the Maritime Air Group (Chinooks, Merlin Mk4 and Wildcat), an RAF P-8 aircraft and HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
