London: British forces on Sunday intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker belonging to Russia's shadow fleet in the English Channel, the defence ministry said.
The six-hour operation in the early hours was supported by aircraft, including Chinook helicopters, and navy vessels such as the frigate HMS Sutherland.
"In the first UK-led operation of its kind, the vessel SMYRTOS was boarded by Royal Marine Commandos and specially trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency, despite Russia's best efforts to evade sanctions and continue fuelling its barbaric war with Ukraine," the ministry statement said.
The vessel will now be moved to an anchorage off the south coast of England and monitored, it added.
"Russia relies on its shadow fleet to fund their conflict in Ukraine and our interdiction delivers a blow to Putin's illegal war," said defence minister Dan Jarvis.
He said the operation was carried out in "close coordination with the French".
Disrupting the shadow fleet was "directly bearing down on the resources sustaining Russia's aggression in Ukraine and reducing its capacity to threaten security across Europe and beyond", he added.
