Downing Street has indicated that the United Kingdom will take action against a “shadow fleet” of up to 100 Russian oil tankers which have carried more than £18 billion worth of cargo since the start of 2024, the BBC reports.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was due to make the announcement at a summit of north European leaders known as the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Oslo, Norway.
The fleet has been used since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to circumvent sanctions, which have included limiting imports and capping the price of Russian oil.
To get round these penalties, according to the BBC, Moscow built up what has been referred to as a “shadow fleet” of tankers whose ownership and movements could be obscured.
Sir Keir has vowed the UK will do everything in its power to “destroy” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “shadow fleet operation, starve his war machine of oil revenues and protect the subsea infrastructure”.
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