Britain is prepared to help the US seize more of Vladimir Putin’s “shadow fleet” after playing a crucial role in the capture of a Russian oil tanker, it is understood.
The MV Marinera was seized by US special forces, assisted by the RAF and Royal Navy, in freezing waters between the UK and Iceland after an extraordinary two week-long cat and mouse pursuit across the Atlantic.
Defence experts said the mission – which Defence Secretary John Healey described as a “seamlessly executed operation” carried out with the UK working closely with the US – marked a new phase in the so-called “grey war” between Russia and the West.
A second Panama-flagged tanker, the M Sophia, which is under UK and US sanctions, was seized by US forces in the Caribbean hours after the Marinera.
Both ships are suspected of shipping sanctioned oil from Venezuela, a state currently under turmoil after the capture of president Nicolas Maduro by US forces on the orders of Donald Trump last weekend.
Moscow’s shadow fleet of vessels – often sailing under false flags to try to evade sanctions – has escalated its activities since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
But while the US Coast Guard has previously seized tankers suspected of trying to dodge sanctions, Wednesday’s joint operations mark a major escalation in America’s battle against Russia’s shadow fleet.
The seizure of the MV Marinera is significant because it was Russian flagged, bringing US forces in direct conflict with Putin’s regime.
Tobias Ellwood, a leading military analyst and former defence minister, said the seizure of the Marinera, previously named MV Bella 1, and Sophia marked a new phase in the grey war between Russia and the West, saying it was one with “muscular interventionism but without agreed rules of engagement”.
Russia’s “grey war” activities have also included interfering with undersea cables in Baltic and Atlantic waters. The UK government is preparing to step up its action against sabotage of cables by increasing fines for shadow fleet vessels, first revealed by The i Paper last month.
UK support for US operation to seize tanker
RAF airbases in the UK were used as the launchpad for Wednesday’s operation, and RAF surveillance planes were deployed to monitor the Marinera as it sailed through the waters between the British Isles and Iceland known as the GIUK Gap, a strategically important maritime choke point.
A Royal Navy ship, RFA Tideforce, provided essential support for US forces pursuing and interdicting the Marinera.
Confirmation of the UK armed forces involvement in the operation was first revealed by The i Paper.
In a statement following the audacious at-sea capture, the Defence Secretary said: “The UK will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability – making Britain secure at home and strong abroad.”
UK officials said they did not rule out the UK taking part in future similar operations if necessary.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the US Coast Guard boarded two “ghost fleet” tanker ships in a “meticulously coordinated” operation.
UK armed forces provided “pre-planned operational support, including basing, to US military assets interdicting the Bella 1 in the UK-Iceland-Greenland gap following a US request for assistance”, the MoD said in a statement.
Seizure of Marinera oil tanker.Operation shows closeness of UK-US defence operations
The joint operation between UK and US forces also underlines how Washington depends on British armed forces for its operations in the Arctic regions and Middle East – amid threats from Trump and members of his administration over Greenland.
Earlier this week, senior Trump aide Stephen Miller claimed “nobody’s going to fight the US over the future of Greenland” – suggesting that European Nato nations need US support more than the other way round.
The MoD statement said: “The UK and US defence and security relationship is the deepest in the world and the UK provided enabling support in full compliance with international law.”
The Defence Secretary added: “Today our UK Armed Forces showed skill and professionalism in support of a successful US interception of the vessel Bella 1 while on its way to Russia. This action formed part of global efforts to crack down on sanctions busting.
“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine.
“The UK will continue to step up our action against shadow fleet activity to protect our national security, our economy, and global stability – making Britain secure at home and strong abroad.
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“The US is the UK’s closest defence and security partner. The depth of our defence relationship with the US is an essential part of our security, and today’s seamlessly executed operation shows just how well this works in practice.”
Russia’s transport ministry said it had granted the Marinera, previously flagged in Guyana, a “temporary permit to sail under the Russian Federation flag” on Christmas eve.
It added that “no state has the right to use force against vessels duly registered in the jurisdictions of other states” under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.
Russia also urged the US should not hamper the return of Russian crew members to their country. But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested the crew could be brought to America for prosecution “if necessary”.
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