A Russian warship disguised itself using a fake ID signal while travelling through the English Channel with two sanctioned oil tankers, a BBC Verify investigation has found.
The Boikiy - a corvette armed with guided missiles - broadcast the fake ID code as it passed through the Channel on Saturday.
On tracking sites it wrongly appeared as ships which have previously used that ID. BBC Verify matched the ID to the Boikiy by using satellite imagery, tracking data and a video of it passing under a bridge in Denmark.
It travelled alongside two vessels known to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" - a network of tankers whose ownership can be obscured and are used to transport sanctioned oil products.
BBC Verify has approached the Russian embassy in London for comment. But experts told BBC Verify that recent Western moves against the shadow fleet may have prompted Moscow to use its military to protect the tankers.
