VARDFOSS, NORWAY – MARCH 17: Royal Marines take part in winter warfare training ahead of Cold Warfare 2022 near Bardufoss, Norway, on March 17, 2022. Royal Marines, which make up Britain’s commando force, are firing a variety of weapons systems, as well as carrying out long patrols and amphibious landings, as they prepare to take part in the bi-annual Norwegian-led exercise Cold. Response 2022 is a defense exercise based on the NATO Article 5 scenario. (Photo credit: NATO/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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British forces seized an oil tanker from Russia’s Shadow Fleet early Sunday morning, according to the British Ministry of Defense.
“In the first British-led operation of its kind, SMYRTOS was staffed by specially trained law enforcement officers from the Royal Marines Special Forces and the National Crime Agency,” the MoD said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he ordered the tanker to be intercepted as it attempted to cross the English Channel.
“The success of this operation deals another blow to Russia and reminds the promoters of[Russian President Vladimir]Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them cover up,” Starmer said in a post on X.
The Ministry of Defense said the ship would be held off Britain’s south coast while the investigation continued.
Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis said in a MoD statement that Britain had sanctioned more than 500 ships in an attempt to counter the shadow fleet.
European countries are getting tougher on ships attempting to transport Russian oil in their waters in violation of international sanctions.
Russia on Wednesday denounced a European Union decision to give European Union ships in the Mediterranean the power to stop and inspect foreign vessels suspected of being part of a shadow fleet transporting Russian oil.
The European Union announced on Monday that it had expanded the mandate of Operation Irini, a naval mission in the Mediterranean that was originally established to enforce the United Nations arms embargo on Libya.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this posed a threat to maritime security and accused the EU of intimidating civilian vessels.
She said there was no such thing as a “shadow fleet” in international law and that the term was a “political fabrication” by the EU.
The number of ships in the shadow fleet has increased significantly since Western governments imposed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude oil exports in December 2022, according to the Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank.
Shipping intermediary BRS estimated in August 2025 that vessels engaged in illegal trade, some of which could be subject to sanctions, accounted for 18.2% of the world’s total oil tanker tonnage.
– Reuters contributed to this article.
