Vladimir Putin is testing Sir Keir Starmer’s promise to crack down on its illicit fleet of shadow tankers just days after special forces gained powers to seize vessels.
A sanctioned oil tanker, suspected of being part of Russia’s shadow fleet, is loitering above one of the UK’s key undersea cables connecting Ireland and Iceland, The i Paper can reveal.
The Indri, an oil tanker sanctioned by the Foreign Office for fuelling Moscow’s war on Ukraine, diverted its route away from the Channel after Starmer signed off on new powers which allowed British military personnel to board suspected shadow fleet tankers.
The Indri then began sailing north up the UK’s Western coast, suspected of taking the long route to Russia past the Scottish Highlands. But in the absence of a first UK seizure, the vessel began loitering nearby to a high-speed underseas cable linking Ireland and Iceland on Friday afternoon, where it has stayed ever since.
Fears over vital undersea cables
The ship is sailing falsely under the flag of Sierra Leone and would be subject to seizure under the Government’s understood guidelines for any enforcement. It is currently circling an area outside of the UK’s Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) – a 200-mile buffer stretching from a country’s shoreline.
Following a series of suspected cable cutting incidents across Europe in recent years, Nato are now working in partnership with the Irish Navy to protect cabling in the country’s waters.
The Indri is now off Ireland’s west coast near to critical undersea cables (Credit: Starboard Maritime Intelligence)The UK has some 45 undersea cables connecting Britain to other countries that carry essential power supplies and vast quantities of data including financial information.
A report by the National Security Strategy (Joint Committee) last year said the UK was “too timid” to protect undersea cables despite being highly reliant on them to transmit data. Moscow’s vessel’s have been involved in suspected attacks throughout Europe.
Last December, Finish police seized a vessel sailing from Russia on suspicion of sabotaging undersea cables, the Kremlin denied the allegation.
It is not yet known what vessels the UK would look to seize, and whether they would attempt to board a vessel outside of its EEZ, but one special forces officer suggested the ship movements could be designed to provoke the government.
With so many dark-fleet ships sailing in or near to British seas on a daily basis, exactly how the Government plans to determine which vessels to seize remains unclear amid practical and legal limitations.
Russian ships loitering near North Sea pipelines
On Sunday morning, three further vessels sanctioned by the Foreign Office were loitering just outside the UK’s EEZ near the Shetland Islands. Two of which had previously performed U-turns to avoid passing through the Channel, according to data provided by Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
The Deneb and Tiburon halted their voyage around the northern tip of the UK before performing U-turns at almost the same time. A third vessel, Aktros, sailed from Eastern Russia before beginning to loiter in the early hours of Friday morning.
The ships are now near to extensive oil and gas pipelines in the North Sea, further increasing fears about the vulnerability of the UK’s critical undersea infrastructure to attack.
Subsea cables in UK and surrounding waters (Phtoo: KIS-ORCA)Emma Salisbury, a a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said: “It is difficult to know exactly what these ships are doing, but they are likely trying to figure out a route to a Russian port that avoids our waters, where they will be interdicted.
“If the route to St Petersburg is assessed as too risky, they may try to go to Murmansk or another northern port, although they may face some rougher weather going that far north at this time of year.”
A former special forces officer with experience of forced boardings said the movements were likely “trying to wind the government up”.
After the UK’s action against Russia’s shadow fleet seemed to deter them from passing through UK waters, Vladimir Putin’s ships are starting to test the Prime Minister’s words.
Shadow fleet tankers still passing through Channel
On Sunday, at least seven sanctioned vessels supected of fueling Moscow’s war on Ukraine passed through the Channel, with a further two were set to traverse the passage at the time of publication.
Starmer’s announcemnent of new powers to detain sanctioned vessels came over two months after the Government promised “assertive action” against the shadow fleet.
In that time, hundreds of suspect vessels have continued to pass freely through and around British waters, while European allies have boarded and seized ships.
Since the Government was understood to have been given a legal basis to board the sanctioned ships, 227 vessels sanctioned by the UK have passed through the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – 59 of which have been Russian-flagged.
British military units are understood to have been preparing for a range of scenarios, including non-compliant vessels with armed crews. Each operation would need to be signed off by ministers following legal and market considerations to account for any unintended disruption to global energy supplies.
The model draws on recent allied actions in the Baltic and Mediterranean, as well as a US-led seizure of the Bella-1 in January.
The latest developments on the fringes of UK waters highlight the legal and practical challenges for British officials when faced with Kremlin provocation at sea.
In January, the Government was understood to have received the legal framework it needed to seize shadow fleet vessels. But since then, hundreds of illicit Russian tankers have sailed through UK waters.
Although they face accusations of engaging in nefarious trades, the legality of trying to seize these ships is still limited under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The internationally recognised law states that ships, even if sanctioned, are to be given the right of innocent passage through international waters. However, under the same convention, a nation can seize or board a vessel if it believes it to be sailing under a false flag.
The Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.
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