British Royal Marines and National Crime Agency officers have boarded and seized a Russian-linked oil tanker in the English Channel, in the first UK-led operation of its kind against vessels suspected of helping Moscow evade Western sanctions. The predawn raid on Sunday targeted the Smyrtos, an oil tanker carrying approximately 700,000 barrels of Russian crude and sailing under a Cameroonian flag. Officers descended onto the vessel from Chinook helicopters and were supported by military aircraft, a Royal Navy frigate and a minehunter. An Indian national was arrested on suspicion of sanctions offences, while 24 Georgian and Indian crew members remained aboard the vessel, which is now anchored off the Dorset coast in southern England.

The Smyrtos departed the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on 5 June, bound for Port Said in Egypt. It is recorded as owned by Zhao Yao Shipping Ltd, a Hong Kong-registered company that owns several other sanctioned tankers, with its management company listed in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The operation lasted six hours and was carried out despite the presence nearby of the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich, a warship that has been stationed close to UK waters since April and has escorted numerous Russian tankers through the Channel. Following the raid, at least six other tankers were reported to have immediately altered course away from the route.

The Smyrtos is part of what analysts and Western governments call Russia's