Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claims the United Kingdom is coordinating a NATO–backed plan to stage a “large-scale act of sabotage” targeting tankers that carry Russian oil—often labelled the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet.”
SVR allegations
- Staged tanker incident: An SVR statement, carried Monday by state broadcaster Russia Today, says London intends to engineer an accident involving an “unwelcome” tanker at a maritime choke-point—such as a strategic strait—to dramatise the idea that Russian crude shipments endanger global shipping.
- Use of proxies: The service alleges British planners want Ukrainian security units to execute attacks, possibly torching a tanker docked in a “friendly” Russian port to damage infrastructure and trigger an international investigation.
- Sanctions goal: Moscow says the ultimate aim is to create media shockwaves strong enough to pressure U.S. President Donald Trump into imposing harsh secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy shipped by the fleet.
London silent, Kyiv tightens its own sanctions
British officials had no immediate comment on the SVR’s claims.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on five companies and 94 individuals— including ship captains—accused of working with the shadow fleet. In May, Kyiv’s parliament advanced a bill allowing penalties against vessels and aircraft involved in “clandestine” Russian oil trade, calling the fleet a threat to national security.
Background: What is Russia’s “shadow fleet”?
Western analysts use the term to describe hundreds of older, often uninsured tankers that transport Russian crude outside G7 price-cap rules. The U.K. last month blacklisted 135 such vessels, accusing Moscow of dodging sanctions and inflating wartime revenues.
While Moscow warns of “serious escalation at sea,” maritime-security experts note that proof of an Anglo-Ukrainian plot is so far absent. Still, the accusation heightens tension in global energy lanes already strained by sanctions, price caps, and tit-for-tat drone strikes in the Black Sea.