THE UK government has raised concerns regarding the rising number of falsely flagged tankers in the shadow fleet* and pledged to disrupt and deter the vessels alongside Baltic state governments.

In a statement issued to Lloyd’s List in response to questions about the growing number of tankers transiting the English Channel with no registered flag or fake documents, the Department for Transport said it would continue to work with international partners “to combat these malign practices”.

The comments were issued after Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, accused the UK government of preparing “mass raids” to sink ships in the Russian shadow fleet.

According to the SVR statement issued on Monday, British Intelligence are plotting attacks to look like accidents, allowing Nato governments the pretext for restricting shadow fleet tanker movements.

“The plan calls for a major act of sabotage,” read the SVR release. “The damage from which will make it possible to declare the transportation of Russian oil a threat to all international shipping. This will free the West’s hands in choosing methods of counteraction. In the extreme, this could involve detaining any ‘suspicious’ ships in international waters and escorting them to the ports of Nato states.”

While the UK government did not respond directly to the SVR report, a statement issued by the Department for Transport to Lloyd’s List confirmed that “the UK is determined to continue to disrupt and deter all shadow fleet and address the risks that they pose, for both correctly and falsely flagged shadow fleet vessels”.

That statement, however, only reiterated the intention already voiced by the UK and eight other Baltic states in June that has resulted in monitoring of shadow fleet tankers, but no direct intervention.

In the 46 days since Nato states promised “joint and coordinated action” against stateless or fraudulently flagged shadow fleet tankers transiting the Baltic and North seas, more than 20 such transits have occurred.

Flagless, sanctioned tankers are routinely asked by coastal state authorities to provide insurance and registration documents that are known to be fake, but the vessels have been left unchallenged.

Stateless vessels, including those falsely claiming to fly a flag are not entitled to rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, including freedom of navigation, according to a statement issued by Baltic state governments and the UK on June 20.

“If vessels fail to fly a valid flag in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, we will take appropriate action within international law” the so-called NB8++ group of countries stated.

However, the threat of Russian naval escalation should any one state disrupt a tanker engaged in Russian oil exports, has led to an uneasy stand-off in the Baltic and English Channel with a now overt naval presence from both sides closely monitoring the passage of stateless tankers.

On Tuesday, a product tanker White Condor I (IMO: 9255244), which has recently renamed itself from Bolognia Falcon and is sailing with faked Aruba certificates, was passing through the English Channel with a stated destination of Skagen outer port limits. The tanker is expected to load in Primorsk on August 18.

Two other tankers, Night Glory (IMO: 9319674) flying the fraudulent Malawi flag and Wall (IMO: 9299886) that is claiming to be Panama-flagged despite being deregistered by Panama recently, are both sailing westbound having loaded in Ust-Luga and Vysotsk respectively.

According to the DfT, the UK government working with international partners to “combat these malign practices”.

This work includes collaboration with Nordic-Baltic 8++ member states on our respective insurance reporting mechanisms, the sanctioning of vessels, and outreach to key flag states, the DfT explained.

The SVR view, however, is that the UK is planning a more direct assault on these tankers.

The release claims British intelligence has planned to commission Ukrainian special forces to sink a vessel in “one of the bottlenecks of sea communication”.

While the SVR statements have been written off by security officials and maritime specialists as Russian propaganda, the report has raised some concerns that Russia is preparing its own “false flag” operation.

Given the age and lack of insurance for much of the shadow, the SVR statements could be interpreted as an early attempt to shift the blame in the event of an environmental disaster cause by the sinking of a tanker carrying Russian oil.