A sanctioned Russian shadow tanker is reportedly sailing through the English Channel under a false name.
The Arcusat, sanctioned by the US in 2024, is flying a Cameroonian flag and has previously been named ‘Tia’ and ‘Tavian’.
It departed a port near Izmir, Turkey, on December 30, and is thought to be heading towards Russia.
The Arcusat is described as a crude oil tanker almost 250 metres in length, on marinetraffic.com.
Yesterday, the US seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in operations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
RAF surveillance aircraft and a naval supply ship, RFA Tideforce, assisted the US-led operation to capture the Venezuela-linked MV Marinera in the Atlantic.
The UK was ‘absolutely willing to step up’ and support the US operation to seize the MV Maninera, a member of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet said.
Douglas Alexander said the operation was in the ‘national interest’ and the ship was ‘part of the shadow fleet that funds Russia’s war effort in Ukraine’.
He insisted it is ‘right and reasonable’ that the UK works with its international allies – such as the US – to tackle Russian attempts to evade sanctions to fuel their war efforts in Ukraine.
Could the English channel get embroiled in the Russia-Ukraine war?
The Arcusat’s journey through the Channel comes as experts warn that the waters risk getting sucked into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
‘The Ukrainians are now operating across a much wider area. If you’re a shadow fleet vessel then there’s now a risk wherever you are,’ Matthew Wright, of trade intelligence firm Kpler, told the Telegraph last month.
‘You get shadow fleet vessels that come out of the Baltic Sea, they are essentially going through the North Sea. The threat to them is now higher.’
Defence chiefs have long been wary about Russian activity in UK waters.
Last month, the Royal Navy said it had secretly tracked a Russian submarine that entered the English Channel.
RFA Tidesurge monitored the Russian Kilo-class submarine RFS Krasnodar as it sailed on the surface from the North Sea.
The Royal Navy said it had been prepared to ‘pivot to anti-submarine operations’ if Krasnodar went below the surface.
What is Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’?
Russia’s shadow fleet is a network of vessels Moscow uses to evade sanctions on its exports.
The Kremlin-run operation uses vessels with obscure ownership structures, often flying other countries’ flags, to hide their true identities.
This allows it to sell goods – such as oil – to countries that have imposed heavy restrictions on the buying and selling of Russian products.
There are thought to be almost 1,000 tankers involved in the fleet.
About 600 are reserved for Russian oil, while another 350 are believed to carry Russian oil alongside other cargo.
Ukraine has carried out numerous drone attacks on shadow tankers in the Black Sea.
Kyiv is also thought to have been behind a reported limpet-mine explosion off the coast of Senegal.
Today, an oil tanker thought to be part of the shadow network was reportedly struck by a drone off the coast of Turkey.
Black smoke was spotted coming from the vessel, believed to be the ‘Elbus’ which was named ‘Euroleader’ until last year.
The Palau-flagged oil tanker was reportedly en route to the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
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