Almost 200 sanctioned Russia-linked ships have entered UK waters despite warning

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Almost 200 sanctioned Russia-linked ships have entered UK waters despite warning21 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleTom Edgington ,Joshua CheethamandThomas Spencer , VerifyGetty ImagesAlmost 200 so-called Russian "shadow fleet" vessels have entered UK waters since the prime minister threatened to intercept them nearly seven weeks ago, Verify analysis suggests. In March, Sir Keir Starmer announced that British armed forces "are now able to board sanctioned vessels that are passing through our waters". However, Verify has identified 184 UK-sanctioned vessels making 238 journeys through UK waters since then and the government has not publicly stated or offered evidence that any have been boarded.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) say it is "disrupting and deterring" shadow fleet vessels, without providing specific details. One former Royal Navy commander has called the lack of action "pathetic". Each ship entered the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - an area that reaches up to 200 nautical miles (230 miles; 370km) from the coastline.

The Details

Most of the journeys were through the English Channel. In at least 94 instances, the ship briefly crossed into UK territorial waters - a smaller zone that extends up to 12 nautical miles (14 miles; 23km) from the coast. Verify understands the UK's interception policy applies to both the UK's territorial waters and the EEZ.

Russia has been operating a "shadow fleet" of tankers with obscure ownership structures to evade international sanctions imposed on its oil exports. All 184 UK-sanctioned ships were tracked by Verify using data from MarineTraffic between 25 March and 15:00 BST on 11 May. All of the ships we have identified appear on the Foreign Office sanctions list and are noted for their links to Russia.

The sanctions ban the vessels from entering UK ports and also prohibit British firms and individuals from providing financial, insurance, or brokerage services to ships that supply or deliver Russian oil. The government has said it is targeting Russia's oil revenues to "choke off funding for Russia's war machine" in Ukraine. The vast majority of ships tracked were oil tankers (173), 10 were Liquified Natural Gas tankers, while one was listed as a "multipurpose offshore vessel", according to MarineTraffic.

What Experts Say

MarineTraffic data is based on ships' onboard tracker systems - known as AIS (Automatic Identification System). However, these systems can be turned off to conceal a ship's true identity and location. MarineTraffic data shows many have data gaps west of Scotland and Ireland.

Former Royal Navy warship commander Tom Sharpe told Verify it was "utterly confusing" and "pathetic" that no boardings had been carried out. "We have the military capability, whether that's warships, boarding teams, Customs and Excise. "We've got no maritime spine in us.

I see it time and time again with the way we operate our warships. We are risk averse, we're poorly coordinated.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.