Keir Starmer Takes on Putin
Royal Navy commandos boarded and seized the Russian shadow fleet tanker Smyrtos in the English Channel overnight Sunday, the first such British operation, as Prime Minister Starmer vowed those funding Putin's war will have "nowhere to hide."
British commandos seized a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the English Channel overnight Sunday in the first operation of its kind, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced, vowing that those financing Putin's war will have "nowhere to hide."
The six-hour operation, led by Royal Navy commando forces with officers from the National Crime Agency, targeted the Smyrtos, a tanker sailing under a Cameroonian flag. The vessel is now being escorted to a port in southern England where it will be monitored as an investigation proceeds, Britain's Defense Ministry said. Starmer said he personally ordered the operation, as reported by Ynet.
"This successful operation is another blow to Russia and serves as a reminder that those funding Putin's war will have nowhere to hide," Starmer said Sunday. "I want to thank our security forces and law enforcement who keep this country safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."
The seizure comes approximately two weeks after France intercepted the shadow fleet tanker Tagor on May 31 in the Atlantic Ocean, some 740 kilometers off the coast of Brittany. Russia has condemned previous such seizures as violations of international law and "piracy," though Moscow had not yet commented on Sunday's operation at time of publication.
According to Britain's Defense Ministry, Russia's shadow fleet comprises more than 700 tankers responsible for 75 percent of all Russian oil exports, providing what the ministry described as a "lifeline for the Kremlin." Britain has sanctioned some 500 of those vessels. London claims Western sanctions have reduced Russia's oil and gas export revenues by 24 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, though Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have also contributed significantly to that toll.
Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published footage of a drone strike on an oil storage facility in the Yaroslavl region, some 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, with large plumes of smoke visible rising from the site. Russian authorities in the region confirmed what they described as a "massive drone attack."
Starmer announced in late March that he had authorized British forces to board sanctioned tankers passing through British waters, but until Sunday the threat had gone unexecuted. Reuters reported in late April that at least 98 shadow fleet vessels had transited the Channel in the month since Starmer's warning without any action being taken.
Sunday's seizure arrives at a politically fraught moment for the prime minister. Last Thursday, Defense Secretary John Healey resigned, accusing Starmer directly of failing to allocate sufficient funding to Britain's armed forces at a time of growing security threats. In his resignation letter, Healey said the government had offered only an additional £10 billion for defense, far short of what he said was required. He had pushed for the defense budget to reach 3 percent of GDP by 2030, against the current plan of 2.68 percent by that date.
Starmer moved quickly to appoint Dan Jarvis, previously a junior cabinet minister, as the new defense secretary. Jarvis pledged Sunday to give British security forces what they need and to "rise to the challenge," but the BBC reported he will not receive any additional budget beyond the £10 billion already allocated, and will only be able to reallocate existing funds.
Starmer has faced mounting internal pressure in recent weeks and repeated calls for his resignation, though he has insisted he will not step down.