The UK Ministry of Defence has officially confirmed that the SMYRTOS vessel, part of the Russian "shadow fleet", was intercepted in the English Channel.
Points of attention
- The UK's interception was executed in accordance with national and international laws as a significant blow against Putin's regime and its aggression towards Ukraine.
- This interception highlights Britain's proactive stance in addressing threats posed by the Russian 'shadow fleet' and supporting global security efforts.
Britain carried out its first independent operation against Russia's "shadow fleet"
The British Ministry of Defense reported that everything happened on the morning of June 14.
The interception process involved Royal Marines and specially trained officers from the National Crime Agency.
Through joint efforts, they boarded the tanker SMYRTOS in the English Channel.
In total, all these processes took 6 hours. The operation involved aircraft from the Naval Aviation Group (Chinooks, Merlin Mk4 and Wildcat), an RAF P-8 aircraft, as well as the ships HMS SUTHERLAND and HMS LEDBURY.
The Russian "shadow fleet" tanker will be temporarily moved to an anchorage off the southern coast of England, where it will be inspected for environmental and security risks. The measures taken against this vessel in the territorial waters of the United Kingdom were carried out in accordance with national and international law, the Ministry of Defense added.
The department emphasized that their operation was another blow to the Putin regime to stop the war of aggression against Ukraine.
