Risk to UK-flagged vessels ‘likely to increase’ – as UK intelligence source says Russia will have concluded Britain was ‘implicit’ in seizure of the Marinera
A blurred picture from the rusted deck of a runaway Russian oil tanker fleeing the US Coast Guard revealed what many had been expecting.
The photo focused on the image of a US MH-6 “Killer Egg” special operations helicopter careering towards the tanker’s deck. Despite the protest of Vladimir Putin, and the submarine he sent to escort the tanker, the US operation to seize the vessel had begun.
A pursuit of over two weeks had brought the fleeing vessel from the Caribbean to around 100 miles from UK waters before it was boarded by US Special Forces. The operation was carried out with the approval of the UK Government and the involvement of RAF planes and a Royal Navy tanker.
But as the vessel is taken into US custody, the significance of the events at sea are yet to be felt. A clash between Moscow and Washington near Europe’s waters now risks further escalation of rising tensions across the continent.
How US captured Putin’s tanker with aid of UK forces
As the tanker made its way to a stretch of ocean between the UK and Iceland on Wednesday afternoon, the first images from the deck of the Russian-flagged vessel appeared. Soon after, US European Command confirmed the seizure of the MV Bella 1 – which had been renamed the MV Marinera – for “violations of US sanctions”.
The operation was carried out with the knowledge and approval of the UK Government. British airbases were used as the launchpad for the mission to board the ship while RFA Tideforce, a Royal Navy tanker, provided support for pursuing and interdicting the Bella 1. The RAF provided surveillance support from the air, as first reported by The i Paper.
The impact of that involvement on UK security – while comforting to Donald Trump, who has voiced reservations about European defences – could be damaging, as it risks the wrath of Putin.
Why UK involvement matters – and how Putin could hit back
The US pursuit and seizure of the Marinera sparked a major diplomatic headache for UK and European officials, leading to bilateral discussions around how best to act, this paper revealed on Tuesday.
Officials voiced concerns that not standing up to Putin would look weak, while assisting the US would draw them into Russia’s scope for revenge. The Kremlin’s increasing use of aggressive “grey warfare” on the West would give Putin a number of options, including cyber attacks, to hit back.
A UK intelligence source told The i Paper that Russia will have concluded that the UK military would have been “implicit” in the seizure of its vessel and this was “likely to increase the risk to UK-flagged vessels in the future”.
Putin would now see these as “legitimate targets” at ports owned by allies, such as China, they added.
The scope of any potential official retaliation is likely to be limited to diplomatic complaints. Nato sources expect there to be a direct phone call between Washington and Moscow immediately.
John Foreman, the UK’s defence attaché to Moscow until 2022, said Russia had “always assumed” that the UK would enable such operations as part of a long-standing “quid pro quo” where Britain allows the US to project power from its shores in return for bolstered defences.
“They are also very aware of the crucial role of the major US airbases at Lakenheath, Mildenhall, and Fairford and Faslane, to support US nuclear submarines,” he told The i Paper. “The surprise to Russia would be the UK refusing to allow such US operations.”
In May, Estonia’s attempt to board a sanctioned Russian “shadow fleet” tanker named Jaguar caused a tense stand-off where Russia sent a fighter jet into Estonian airspace to protect the vessel. The incident caused Nato to scramble jets in response while Estonia escorted the Jaguar out of its waters.
When Blaise Metreweli, the chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, said last month that the “front line is everywhere” – incidents like this prove it.
As the White House lauds its latest geopolitical victory over the Kremlin, Europe waits in anticipation for its response.
The Marinera’s journey to within 100 miles of UK waters
Sailing under the Guyana flag and named Bella 1, the tanker had been preparing to pick up oil from Venezuela last month but disappeared from trackers after Trump introduced a naval blockage of sanctioned vessels visiting the country.
When it reappeared on open-source trackers in the middle of the Atlantic, it had been renamed the Marinera, and was showing as registered in Russia. The crew had also painted a crude Russian flag on its side in a bid to deter a pursuing US Coast Guard vessel.
The Kremlin has been using a “shadow fleet” of foreign-flagged oil tankers to evade global sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine, and Venezuela was a key port.
The tanker, which had been sanctioned by the US in 2024 for illicit oil trading with Iran, had travelled from the Middle Eastern country through the Suez Canal to Venezuela – a journey that indicated it was empty of cargo.
Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers, notes a ship of this size is “unable to traverse the Suez Canal due to draft depth constraints for a vessel her size”. It means, he says, there is a high level of confidence the tanker “was heading to Venezuela to load at least 1.8 million barrels of oil”.
As it made its way across the Atlantic, with a US Coast Guard vessel in tow, American surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk continued to shadow the tanker, while a build-up of US aircraft was making its way to the UK ahead of the seizure.
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On Monday, an MH-47G Chinook – the US army’s specialised helicopter for special operations forces – conducted a test flight over the UK, according to open-source flight data.
Two AC-130 gunships were also filmed arriving at Mildenhall at the weekend, and a number of CS-17 transport flights have also been recorded landing – prompting speculation the US was beefing up its presence in preparation for any move to seize the ship.
Further low-altitude test flights were conducted by other US special forces aircraft between RAF Fairford and RAF Mildenhall in Norfolk this week.
