LONDON: Britain provided tracking and monitoring support for a French operation to board a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in a bid to choke off the funds that fuel Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UK defense minister John Healey said on Thursday.
Healey said this support included a vessel, HMS Dagger, monitoring the tanker as it passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. The tanker, named the GRINCH, is subject to UK and European sanctions for facilitating trade in sanctioned oil and forms part of a growing web of the so-called “shadow-fleet.”
“Deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government,” Healey said in a statement.
“I can confirm that the UK has provided tracking and monitoring in support of the French operation to board the tanker Grinch.”
He said Britain and its allies were stepping up their response to so-called shadow-fleet vessels, which he described as helping finance Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
