The British Royal Navy carried out the interception of a tanker allegedly linked to Russia's "ghost fleet" early this Sunday morning, the network of ships that Moscow uses to circumvent international sanctions imposed for the war in Ukraine, as it was attempting to cross the English Channel.
The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, announced this "successful operation," which, he stressed, "deals another blow to Russia and reminds those who fuel (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war in Ukraine that they have nowhere to hide."
The UK Ministry of Defence identified the ship as the cargo ship 'Smyrtos'. The military operation, which lasted six hours, involved the deployment of aircraft from the Maritime Air Group (Chinooks, Merlin Mk4, and Wildcat helicopters), a P-8 aircraft from the Royal British Air Force, and the support of the warships 'Sutherland' and 'Ledbury'.
Following the intervention, the 'Smyrtos' will be temporarily taken to an anchorage off the south coast of England, where "monitoring will be carried out to detect any environmental or security issues."
The interception of such vessels is relatively frequent, especially in Baltic waters, although this is the first time the United Kingdom has directly undertaken an operation of this nature.
Starmer expressed his gratitude to all the personnel involved and shared a video of the military action accompanied by a message to Putin: "Despite your efforts to evade sanctions, we will not let you get away with it." The Russian government has not yet issued an official reaction to the incident.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, expressed his gratitude to the United Kingdom for this "important step against Russia's oil fleet."
In a message posted on social media, he recalled that "it was Russia's arrogance, fueled by high oil and gas revenues, that paved the way for this war, and every decision by partners that deprives Russia of money also limits the war itself."
Zelensky also took the opportunity to call on European partners to "take legislative measures to allow not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry."
The first reaction from Moscow has arrived through one of Putin's closest advisors, economic negotiator Kirill Dimitriev, who has described the British operation as a distraction maneuver intended to cover up an alleged crisis of violence linked to migrants.
"A desperate Starmer, instead of intercepting his immigrants who rape, mutilate, and behead Britons, is trying to distract the United Kingdom by intensifying the conflict," he wrote on social media.