RUSSIA has vowed “explosive” retaliation if Starmer carries out his threat to seize Putin’s ships in UK waters.
Last week, the PM threatened to send elite amphibious troops to board Moscow‘s shadow fleet tankers if they try to cross the Channel.
Not only do the aging and rusting tankers help Putin smuggle sanctioned oil, Sweden has recently revealed that Russia deploys armed troops on the same vessels.
Despite the warning, half a dozen shadow fleet vessels chugged through the Channel unchallenged last week.
Now, Moscow’s ambassador in London Andrey Kelin has hit back at Starmer.
“This decision will not go unanswered. Appropriate measures are being considered,” he said.
Kelin urged the Starmer government to “think carefully” although he declined to say what steps the Putin regime might take.
He added: “Let this come as a surprise to the British people.”
The long-time ambassador said it would be considered “deeply hostile” if Royal Marine commandos touched foot on a Russian tanker.
“We regard any attempts by the British side to seize vessels associated with our country as unacceptable and intolerable,” Kelin said.
“The escalation of tensions is spreading to the highly sensitive maritime region of the English Channel, where over 500 civilian and military vessels transit daily.
“Launching an exercise there using force is not only irresponsible but also explosive.”
Two British special forces spy planes — RAF Shadow R1s — spent hours patrolling the Channel on Thursday as sanctioned vessels passed.
For all the Government’s bluster, at least six sanctioned vessels transited the Dover Strait unchallenged.
They also sailed past Navy HQ at Portsmouth, Special Boat Service HQ at Poole, plus Royal Marine bases unhindered.
Maritime law expert James Turner KC, a former Royal Marine, said ships have the right of “innocent passage” even if they are sanctioned, unless they are smugglers, slavers, pirates or sailing under a false flag.
He added: “If they are behaving themselves, you can’t stop them.”
The Prime Minister vowed the crackdown would “starve Putin’s war machine” of cash it needs to fight in Ukraine.
Putin’s notorious ‘Shadow Fleet’
RUSSIA’S “shadow fleet” refers to a covert network of ageing oil tankers used to bypass international sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.
These sanctions, including price caps on Russian oil, aim to curtail Moscow’s revenues.
However, the shadow fleet allows Russia to continue exporting oil globally while avoiding Western controls.
This fleet is composed of older, poorly maintained vessels often operating without reputable Western insurance, relying instead on obscure providers or none at all.
To evade detection, the fleet employs tactics such as turning off tracking systems, falsifying location data, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers at sea to disguise the oil’s origin.
Its opaque operations and lack of oversight create vulnerabilities for maritime safety and international law enforcement.
Starmer said: “Putin is rubbing his hands at the war in the Middle East because he thinks higher oil prices will let him line his pockets.
He added: “That’s why we’re going after his shadow fleet even harder, not just keeping Britain safe but starving Putin’s war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign in Ukraine.”
The PM’s decision comes over a year after Finland seized the Eagle S tanker, suspected of severing undersea cables in the Baltic in Dec 2024.
The last time British forces seized a tanker in UK waters, elite Special Boat Service commandos took seven minutes to take control of the 42,000 ton Nave Andromeda.
They were answering a mayday call after stowaways seized control of the ship in the Solent in November 2020.
The PM gave commandos his approval to storm Russian ships as he travelled to Helsinki, Finland, for a summit with national leaders from the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
