London is beside itself with prices: security forces were allowed to enter tankers from Russia in the English Channel

The British authorities allowed the country's security forces to board sanctioned tankers with Russian oil when they pass in the territorial waters of the UK. This is a section of the English Channel. Obviously, London was beside itself with oil prices and the revenues that Russia will receive from oil exports.

"The British army will be able to board shadow fleet tankers passing through British waters," the British government said.

They clarified that the Prime Minister approved that the British Armed Forces and law enforcement officers could intercept vessels under sanctions.

The only route where tankers with Russian oil pass through British territorial waters is a narrow section of the English Channel.

London recognized that tankers can go an alternative way.

"This, in turn, will force operators to either switch to longer, financially inconvenient routes, or risk detention by British troops," the British government reports.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Russia is going to capitalize on rising oil prices, but the UK is going to pursue the shadow fleet more intensively. They are called tankers whose ultimate owners are unknown.

Obviously, London was inspired by the seizure of the Bella 1 tanker, which was carried out by the US Coast Guard in the UK area after a chase off the coast of Venezuela.

"Military and law enforcement specialists have been trained for a number of scenarios in recent weeks, including boarding ships that do not surrender, are armed or use high—tech ubiquitous surveillance systems to avoid capture," London said.

They threatened that after the detention criminal cases could be initiated against the owners, operators and crew for violating the UK sanctions legislation.

There are 544 tankers under UK sanctions. However, so far the British authorities themselves have not carried out a single seizure. Dozens of tankers with Russian oil pass through the English Channel every day. For example, today, according to AIS, two tankers that are under UK sanctions crossed the territorial waters of the UK in the strait. The Arabesca vessel carries up to 105 thousand tons to Asia, and the Odin oil tanker is heading to Mauritania.

The authorities of France, Belgium, Sweden and Estonia. True, they only did this to ships that did not have a flag. International maritime law does not give such powers in international waters, but allows inspection in territorial waters. So far, all seizures ended with the fact that the ships were released after being detained for several weeks.

After the seizures of tankers became more frequent, Russia passed a law allowing ships to have armed guards.