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The captain of a shadow Russian ship carrying oil captured by commandos is to appear in a British court.
Ajay Pant, 38, will appear at Southampton Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with contravening sanctions.
The Indian national and captain of the Smyrtos, has also been charged with directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by ship prohibited oil or oil products from Russia to a third country during June 2026, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Royal Marine commandos and NCA officers seized the tanker in the Channel early on Sunday in the first UK-led operation to capture a sanctioned vessel.
The Smyrtos vessel is anchored off Weymouth, in Dorset where it is being monitored.
In his first statement as Defence Secretary, Dan Jarvis said the UK’s interdiction of the vessel ‘deals another blow to Putin’.
He told MPs: ‘We do not seek escalation, but we will always take the necessary steps to enforce UK sanctions.
‘The UK has sanctioned over 550 Russian shadow fleet vessels, this has had a material impact.
‘Nearly 200 have been forced to anchor because of the action of the UK and our partners, and yesterday’s operation sends a clear signal to Russia that the UK and its allies can and will act against the Russian war machine.’
Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ carries 75% of the country’s sanctioned oil, according to the MoD, and operates under obscure ownership as a way of getting around international sanctions.
In another operation on June 1, the country intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker suspected of being part of the shadow fleet with UK support.