Royal Marine Commandos and National Crime Agency (NCA) officers boarded the tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel in the early hours of June 14, in the first UK-led interdiction of a Russian shadow fleet vessel.
The boarding was authorized under UNCLOS Article 110, which permits a warship to board a vessel suspected of being stateless. Cameroon had already deregistered the Smyrtos, one of 36 shadow fleet tankers the country expelled from its registry. The operation took place inside UK territorial waters as the vessel transited the English Channel.
Personnel from 42 Commando fast-roped from CH-47 Chinook helicopters in a six-hour operation supported by Merlin Mk4 and Wildcat helicopters, an RAF P-8 Poseidon, the Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland, and mine hunter HMS Ledbury. France provided support. The NCA confirmed 25 crew on board. One man, aged 38, was arrested.
Watch: Royal Marine Commandos board the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker SMYRTOS in the Channel, in the first UK-led operation of its kind, backed by HMS Sutherland, HMS Ledbury and an RAF P-8. The vessel is now held off the south coast as investigations continue. pic.twitter.com/omTnGlh3gk
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) June 14, 2026
The 244-metre crude tanker departed Ust-Luga, Russia’s Baltic port, on June 5, 2026, carrying more than 100,000 tonnes of Russian Urals crude. The Smyrtos is sanctioned by the UK, EU, Canada, Switzerland, and Ukraine.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the operation delivered “yet another blow to Russia” and warned those “fuelling Putin’s war in Ukraine that they cannot hide.” Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said the UK has sanctioned more than 500 shadow fleet vessels, pledging to reduce Russia’s oil revenues.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Britain and called on Europe to take “legislative steps to enable not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry.”
The boarding followed Starmer’s March 2026 authorization for British forces to intercept sanctioned vessels in UK waters. No shadow fleet ship had been detained before Sunday. The MoD puts the total fleet at more than 700 tankers, which carry 75% of Russia’s sanctioned oil.
