00:18In the dead of night, Royal Marine Commandos fast roped onto a 244 meter oil tanker in the
00:26English Channel and made history.
00:29This wasn't a drill, it was Britain's first ever seizure of a vessel from Russia's so-called
00:35Shadow Fleet, and it sends a message that goes far beyond one ship.
00:40The vessel is called the Smirtos.
00:43On paper, it sails under a Cameroon flag, owned by shell companies in the Seychelles and Singapore.
00:49In reality, it's been sanctioned by the UK, the EU, Ukraine, Canada and Switzerland for
00:57one job, smuggling Russian crude oil past Western sanctions.
01:02Just before dawn on Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted on X,
01:06I directed our armed forces to intercept a Shadow Fleet oil tanker attempting to pass through
01:13the English Channel.
01:14The boarding lasted six hours.
01:16Marines, National Crime Agency officers, RAF aircraft, helicopters, Royal Navy ships.
01:23The Smirtos is now anchored off England's south coast, going nowhere.
01:29So what exactly is the Shadow Fleet?
01:31After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the G7 slapped a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian
01:39oil.
01:40The goal?
01:41Starve the Kremlin's war machine.
01:43Russia's answer?
01:45Build a parallel navy of hundreds, possibly over a thousand, aging, underinsured tankers
01:51that operate in the gray zone of maritime law.
01:54They switch off their GPS tracking.
01:57They transfer oil at sea, ship to ship, in the middle of the night.
02:00They register in obscure jurisdictions, shuffle ownership through layers of anonymous companies,
02:06and sail under flags of convenience from countries with little enforcement power.
02:12The result?
02:12Russia moves an estimated 65 to 75 percent of its seaborne oil exports through this fleet,
02:20generating tens of billions of dollars a year to fund the war in Ukraine.
02:25Every tanker that gets through is fuel, quite literally, for the conflict.
02:29This interception is a first and a signal.
02:33Until now, Shadow Fleet vessels have largely moved through international waters with impunity.
02:40Boarding one in UK waters, physically with armed commandos, is a major escalation of enforcement.
02:46It says the English Channel is no free pass.
02:49Britain has been quietly supporting U.S.-led operations against other sanctioned vessels.
02:55But seizing one yourself, in your own backyard, that's a different statement entirely.
03:00Officials are calling it a direct strike on Putin's war economy.
03:04Not everyone is applauding.
03:06Some critics are pointing out the irony.
03:08The same channel, where small migrant boats have struggled to get intercepted for years, was secured in hours for a
03:15tanker operation.
03:16Expect that debate to intensify.
03:20What happens to the Smirtos next is still unfolding.
03:24Cargo, destination, legal proceedings, all under investigation.
03:28But the UK government has made clear, this could be the first of many.
03:33One tanker seized, a thousand more still at sea.
03:37The Shadow Fleet isn't finished, but it just got a lot harder to ignore.
03:46Deck secure. Search teams report all clear.
03:50Command, what's our status?
03:51Yes.
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