Russian warship escorts “shadow fleet” tankers through the English Channel despite the UK’s pledge to detain them

Starmer said in late March that he had granted British military personnel and law enforcement officials the authority to detain ships listed under UK sanctions while they are located in the country’s territorial waters. He said the move was necessary to “starve Putin’s war machine of dirty profits.”

So far, however, British forces have not detained any vessels from the “shadow fleet.”

Both Universal and Enigma were added to UK sanctions lists in 2025. In January, the Universal departed from the oil port of Vysotsk in Russia’s Leningrad Region, while the Enigma sailed from the Russian port of Primorsk.

According to analysts cited by The Telegraph, more than 300 vessels linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet” have passed through UK territorial waters since the start of 2026. Experts note that seizing such a large number of tankers would require significant resources, and that British ports have a limited number of berths capable of accommodating vessels of that size.

The Irish Times recently reported that, following Starmer’s announcement, ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet” began avoiding the English Channel, instead taking a longer route into the Atlantic by sailing around Ireland. According to the Irish newspaper’s sources, a significant number of these tankers have been observed off Ireland’s western coast since late March.