A Russian tanker sanctioned by the US is sailing through the English Channel just 24 hours after a similar vessel was seized by American forces with help from the UK.
The Tavian, which was sanctioned in the US in 2024 for its alleged involvement in the distribution of illicit oil, is sailing under a false name and a Cameroonian flag.
Tracking data showed it sailing around 25 miles north of Guernsey on Thursday afternoon, and making its way towards the Gulf of Finland.
It comes amid fears of Russian retaliation after the dramatic seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker just 24 hours ago. In a two-week operation that could put Donald Trump on a collision course with Vladimir Putin, US forces captured the ship, the previously Venezuela-linked Marinera, in the north Atlantic between Iceland and Scotland on Wednesday, aided by British forces.
Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence think tank, described the Tavian as a “zombie ship” because it was using a “dead vessel identity”.
He said: “It is broadcasting the IMO number of a vessel that has been scrapped or deregistered – essentially attempting to disguise itself as a different unsanctioned vessel. It has changed names and flags and claims a different identity to avoid detection.”
The government did not deny it was tracking the Tavian. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “The defence secretary set out in parliament yesterday that deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government. We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary on live maritime traffic websites.”
Earlier, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, insisted the UK would not be intimidated by fears of possible Kremlin retaliation over the Marinera.
“I don’t think we can be cowed from doing the right thing because of fear of Russia,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said the UK was “very happy” to be involved in Wednesday’s action.
“We don’t always comment on what our military is involved in, but we were very happy to be involved yesterday because we saw it as being in our national interest.”
Defence secretary John Healey told MPs the ship had a “nefarious history” and was “part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine”.
He said the seizure was legally justified and that the tanker had been “stateless” and falsely flying the flag of Guyana when it was first intercepted, before changing its name and attempting to adopt the Russian flag.
The UK supported the operation at the request of US president Donald Trump as part of “global efforts to crack down on sanctions-busting and shadow shipping activity”, he said.
The UK later revealed British armed forces provided support in the capture of the Marinera, a Venezuelan-linked vessel previously known as Bella-1, as it travelled north and eastwards through the waters between Iceland and Scotland yesterday.
The interception of the vessel came amid growing tensions between Mr Trump and Europe over the US president’s repeated threats to take over Greenland.
That diplomatic row erupted only days after US forces entered Venezuela and seized its president, Nicolas Maduro, in an extraordinary show of American military power. Mr Maduro was taken to New York, where he is facing charges for drug trafficking, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and “narco-terrorism”.
In response to the seizure of the Marinera, Russia’s transport ministry appeared to suggest that international maritime law had been breached.