Overview
- British forces led a six‑hour boarding and seizure of the tanker Smyrtos on Sunday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing the operation as a successful UK‑led interdiction of a shadow‑fleet vessel.
- The boarding was carried out by Royal Marines working with specially trained National Crime Agency agents and supported by RAF aircraft and Royal Navy ships including HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
- Authorities say the Smyrtos sailed from Ust‑Luga on June 5 under a Cameroonian flag and used tactics typical of the so‑called shadow fleet, a network of ageing tankers with opaque ownership that help Moscow evade sanctions.
- The vessel is being held at anchor off the south coast of England near Weymouth/Portland and will remain monitored for security and environmental risks while investigations by the MOD and NCA continue.
- The action follows earlier Western seizures this year and recent UK legal changes to permit interdictions in British waters, and it has prompted calls from Kyiv for new laws to allow confiscation of oil as well as detention of ships.