Russian Tankers Defy UK Sanctions in English Channel

Fri Jan 23 2026 17:17:07 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Despite promises of 'assertive action' from the UK, 42 sanctioned Russian tankers have navigated the English Channel this month, raising concerns over enforcement of sanctions.

Dozens of oil tankers subject to UK sanctions due to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine have made their way through the English Channel, despite UK officials asserting they would take strong measures against such vessels. Legal assurances to detain these ships were received by the UK government; however, tracking data indicates that several sanctioned tankers, including the Sofos, have continued to evade these sanctions and operate unimpeded.

Dozens of oil tankers sanctioned by the UK in response to Russia's war in Ukraine have sailed through the English Channel this month despite defence officials vowing to take assertive action.

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has used hundreds of ageing tankers with obscured ownership - known as the shadow fleet - to evade sanctions on its oil exports.

The BBC understands that the UK government received legal assurances earlier this month that such vessels can be detained. Yet 42 sanctioned tankers tracked by BBC Verify passing through the English Channel did so after that advice was received.

Among them was the Sofos - a tanker sanctioned by the UK Foreign Office in May 2025. It moved through the Channel after travelling from Venezuela and is now near the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Ship-tracking data shows the Sofos loaded oil in Russia in mid-November, before travelling to Turkey and then to Venezuela, where it switched off its tracking signal. Satellite imagery later placed it at Venezuela's Jose oil terminal on 22 and 23 December, before its signal reappeared outside the country's waters on 26 December.

The Nasledie, a tanker which is more than 20 years old, also entered the Channel in January. The ship was sanctioned by the UK in May 2025 and has been part of the shadow fleet since 2023.

In November, the ship had a makeover, changing its name from Blint and switching to a Russian registry after falsely flying under the Comoros flag. It left Russia in late December and just days after the BBC reported on the UK's legal advice it entered the Channel carrying about 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude, Russia's flagship oil grade.

The shadow fleet has helped Russia mitigate the impact of an embargo imposed on its oil exports since 2022 and has propped up an economy battered by Western sanctions.

In January, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the British government was ready to tighten the chokehold on Russia and take new assertive actions against shadow fleet vessels. Her comments came after officials were told troops could board and seize tankers under the Sanctions and Money Act 2018.

While the UK has aided US forces to seize a tanker near Iceland in early January and France in the Mediterranean on Thursday, British troops are yet to independently seize any shadow fleet vessels.

This is despite BBC Verify identifying six tankers operating in the Channel under false flags since the beginning of January. Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, such tankers can be seized as stateless vessels.

Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee, expressed disappointment that the vessels had not been intercepted.

Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP, questioned the UK's reluctance to independently board the tankers, indicating that the Royal Marines are trained for such operations.

Russia has reacted to the UK's vow to take more assertive action against the shadow fleet, with reports indicating that a warship escorted the sanctioned tanker General Skobelev through the Channel.

In a statement, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson emphasized that deterring and degrading the Russian shadow fleet remains a priority for the UK government.