Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly defied Britain’s new sanctions enforcement policy against Russia by sending a warship to escort two sanctioned oil tankers through the English Channel.
The Admiral Grigorovich, a 3,620-ton Black Sea fleet frigate armed with anti-ship missiles, reportedly accompanied the vessels past British waters earlier today, with a Royal Navy ship trailing the flotilla.
The Telegraph on Wednesday, April 8, reported witnessing the Russian convoy sailing past RFA Tideforce, marking a direct challenge to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to crack down on Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
The sighting comes just weeks after Starmer authorized British special forces to seize sanctioned tankers transiting UK waters under legislation passed in 2018.
UK policy shift
In March, the prime minister announced a tougher stance against Russia’s shadow fleet — a network of 600 to 1,000 aging tankers that use opaque ownership and false flags to evade sanctions.
He argued that rising oil prices, driven partly by Middle East conflicts, risked providing Moscow with a financial windfall to fund its war in Ukraine.
“Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets,” Starmer said. “That’s why we’re going after his shadow fleet even harder.”
The new policy empowers the Royal Navy, National Crime Agency, and special forces units such as the Special Boat Service (SBS) and Special Air Service (SAS) to board and detain sanctioned vessels.
Royal Marines have also been granted authority to act if ships pose no immediate danger. The move aligns Britain with similar interdictions already carried out by France, Belgium, and Sweden.
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Despite the authorization, the UK has yet to seize a single Russian vessel. The Universal tanker departed the Russian port of Vyotsk in January, while Enigma, sailing under a Cameroon flag, left Primorsk in late March bound for Turkey.
Both ships are sanctioned by the UK for funneling revenue into the Kremlin’s coffers.
The Russian frigate was spotted escorting the tankers shortly after 9 a.m. as they headed west toward Plymouth. A British naval vessel shadowed the flotilla, but no interdiction was attempted.
Russia responds
Moscow has in the past warned it will retaliate if the UK deploys military force against sanctioned ships.
“The appropriate measures are being developed. Let this come as a surprise to the British people,” Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrei Kelin said.
Putin’s decision to send a warship through the Channel is seen as a direct signal to London that Russia will not allow its tankers to be seized without resistance.
The incident also comes amid criticism of Britain’s military readiness, with HMS Dragon’s deployment to the Middle East delayed by three weeks due to technical issues.
Last month, Russia accused the United Kingdom of direct involvement in a missile strike on a military-linked microelectronics facility in the Bryansk region and warned the attack could escalate the war to what it called a “fundamentally new level.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, March 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Ukrainian forces used Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike the Kremniy El plant, a major Russian manufacturer of microelectronics used in missile guidance systems.
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According to the ministry, the strike killed seven civilians and injured 42 others.
“As we have repeatedly pointed out, the use of high-tech Western weapons is impossible without the direct involvement of foreign specialists who ensure their operation and targeting, as well as without the provision of the necessary intelligence data by certain NATO countries,” the ministry said.
“Western handlers of Kyiv bear full responsibility for the consequences of this strike, which resulted in civilian casualties.”
It added that Britain had “stepped beyond the bounds of international law and is ready, through the hands of its puppets, to move the conflict to a fundamentally new level in terms of destruction and human casualties.”
Independent verification of the casualty figures was not immediately possible. Ukrainian officials have said the facility targeted in the strike plays a role in Russia’s military production.
The Kremniy El plant is described by Ukrainian authorities as one of Russia’s largest producers of microelectronic components used in missile guidance and control systems used in weapons that have repeatedly struck Ukrainian cities during the war.
