REDDITCH MP Chris Bloore has praised the skill and professionalism of British forces after the UK seized a Russian shadow fleet tanker carrying sanctioned oil.
In the early hours of Sunday, Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency officers boarded and seized the Smyrtos, a 244-metre tanker, 25 miles south of the Isle of Wight.
The vessel was carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil suspected of breaching international sanctions.
The operation marks a step in enforcing sanctions against Russia’s illegal maritime trade. More 700 vessels make up Russia’s shadow fleet.
They move roughly 40 per cent of its crude oil to bypass Western sanctions and fund the war in Ukraine.
During a ministerial statement in the House of Commons, Mr Bloore congratulated Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis MP and asked whether this operation signalled a permanently robust British stance against illicit vessels violating sanctions in UK waters.
Mr Jarvis confirmed the UK would maintain a posture of robust action to choke off the Kremlin’s funding lines. He praised the international cooperation that made the mission possible.
The Smyrtos has been towed to an anchorage outside port limits in Weymouth, Dorset.
Its captain, a 38-year-old Indian national has been arrested and formally charged by the National Crime Agency with suspected sanctions offences.
Mr Bloore said: “Is this the start of a more robust attitude in British waters to the shadow fleet, which is conducting an illegal trade to fund an illegal war?
“The operation sends a clear message to the Kremlin – you cannot use our waters to fund human misery.
“Every barrel of illicit oil smuggled by these shadow tankers represents more missiles and drones targeting innocent civilians in Ukraine.
“Securing our waters isn’t just a matter of international law – it directly impacts our own national security.
“The shadow fleet is one of the most cynical tools in Putin’s arsenal.
“Tankers operating in the dark to smuggle oil revenues past sanctions, funding a war that has caused immeasurable suffering.
“Britain intercepting one of those vessels, with skill, international backing and legal authority, sends a powerful message.
“I want to see that message reinforced.”
