Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / UK armed forces seize Russian shadow fleet tanker in Channel

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UK armed forces seize Russian shadow fleet tanker in Channel · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: The raw Marines have seized day sanctioned Russian Shadow Fleet
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  Speaker 1: tanker in the English Channel in a dramatic nighttime operation.
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  Speaker 1: The Prime Ministers of Kirstarma described it as another blow
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  Speaker 1: to Russia and said it reminds those fueling Putin's war
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  Speaker 1: in Ukraine that they cannot hide. So let let's have
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  Speaker 1: a look at the pictures they have just come in
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  Speaker 1: in the last few minutes. According to the Ministry of Defense,
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  Speaker 1: in the first UK led operation of its kind, the
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  Speaker 1: vessel Smertos was bordered by Royal Marine commandos and specially
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  Speaker 1: trained law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency. Despite
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  Speaker 1: Russia's best efforts to evade sanctions and continue fueling it's
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  Speaker 1: barbarick war with Ukraine. The military operation, which lasted six hours,
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  Speaker 1: was supported with aircraft from the Maritime Air Groups the
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  Speaker 1: ch Shanooks at Merlin MK four and Wildcats, an RAF
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  Speaker 1: P eight aircraft, as well as HMS Southern and h
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  Speaker 1: MESS need Bury Well. Speaking on Sky News this morning,
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  Speaker 1: the Culture Secretary Lisa and He paid tribute to the
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  Speaker 1: Royal Marines.
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  Speaker 2: One of the ways that Putin is funding the war
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  Speaker 2: in Ukraine is to operate what is called a shadow fleet,
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  Speaker 2: which is able to transport goods, particularly oil, through waters
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  Speaker 2: that they would otherwise be barred from sailing in. And
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  Speaker 2: this morning what we've done is intercept one of those
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  Speaker 2: shadow fleet vessels and detained that in order to disrupt
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  Speaker 2: the funding source of that unlawful war. It's one of
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  Speaker 2: the instructions that the Prime Minister gave quite early on
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  Speaker 2: was that he wanted us to be on the front
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  Speaker 2: foot taking that sort of decisive action in order to
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  Speaker 2: keep the country safe and to deal with the threat
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  Speaker 2: post by Russia. And this morning we've been able to
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  Speaker 2: successfully do that. I want to pay tribute to all
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  Speaker 2: of the naval, Navy officers and others who've been involved
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  Speaker 2: in doing that. That is no small achievement, but it
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  Speaker 2: is also a significant blow to the Russians.
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  Speaker 3: One of our according to your press release, seven hundred
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  Speaker 3: of the Russians shadow fleet, So in perspective that it's
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  Speaker 3: the first one we have seized of seven hundred or
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  Speaker 3: so ships operating in this way, and it's twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 3: The war began in twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think that shows the seriousness with which
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  Speaker 2: we're taking this because it's not easy to do. We've
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  Speaker 2: been determined to do it because cutting off the funding
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  Speaker 2: for the action in Ukraine is one of the central
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  Speaker 2: ways that we will make sure that Ukraine wins the
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  Speaker 2: war and that we stand by them to do that
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  Speaker 2: and then to win the piece as well.
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  Speaker 1: Our Security and Defense editor Deborah Haynes joins me now,
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  Speaker 1: and Deborah, we've just in seeing the pictures of the
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  Speaker 1: raid of the British forces landing on that ship, that
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  Speaker 1: shallow fret vessel. What do you make of those pictures
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  Speaker 1: because it looks really dramatic, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so you can see those Shinok helicopters are what
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  Speaker 4: the Royal Marines are traveling in. And obviously this operation
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  Speaker 4: happened overnight, so it happened in the early hours of
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  Speaker 4: this morning. So that's why the images are very grainy
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  Speaker 4: and dark, but you can make out Royal Marines fast
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  Speaker 4: roping from the helicopters onto the deck of the vessel.
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  Speaker 4: It's the kind of operation they would use when they
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  Speaker 4: do not believe that there is a threat of armed
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  Speaker 4: attack from the vessel. Obviously you don't want helicopters coming
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  Speaker 4: close if they could be shot down, so clearly they'd
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  Speaker 4: establish that there wasn't that kind of threat. They could
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  Speaker 4: approach from the air, and then you've got the Royal
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  Speaker 4: Marines fast roping down onto the deck and then immediately
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  Speaker 4: you can see they're very heavily armed. They've got night
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  Speaker 4: vision goggles and you can see them. They're also operating
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  Speaker 4: with the National Crime Agency specialists and I've seen the
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  Speaker 4: police as well. They have got the ability to be
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  Speaker 4: able to board ships in the off the English coast.
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  Speaker 4: They're specially trained. And then you can see them fanning
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  Speaker 4: out into the deck of the tanker where they are moving.
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  Speaker 4: You can see them door to door checking. Obviously they
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  Speaker 4: don't know who is potentially on board. They'll have like
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  Speaker 4: they'll think that they'll know it's a crew, but clearly
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  Speaker 4: they won't know everything, and so they'll be wanting to
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  Speaker 4: establish whether there is any threat on that ship. It's
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  Speaker 4: a Cameroon flagged tanker. The British clearly believe it's part
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  Speaker 4: of Russia's shadow fleet, carrying sanctioned oil as part of
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  Speaker 4: Russian efforts to bypass international sanctions and continue to fund
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  Speaker 4: its war effort. That's the justification for this raid. But
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  Speaker 4: you can see the Marines spreading out on this tanker.
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  Speaker 4: The absolute immediate operational goal will be to take control
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  Speaker 4: of the vessel, and as soon as they've got control
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  Speaker 4: of the vessel, they've detained the crew, then it would
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  Speaker 4: be a case of moving the tanker to where they
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  Speaker 4: want to put it or we've been told by the
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  Speaker 4: Ministry of Defense they want to anchor it off the
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  Speaker 4: coast of the south coast of England, and then the
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  Speaker 4: personnel on board, the crew, we haven't had any detail
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  Speaker 4: yet on them, how many they are, what nationality they are.
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  Speaker 4: Clearly that's going to be a matter for the Home Office.
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  Speaker 4: The Department for Transport as well now takes the lead
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  Speaker 4: in terms of what next for this tanker. But the
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  Speaker 4: military operation, as you can see, it's, you know, like
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  Speaker 4: you say, it looks pretty dramatic. It's obviously not something
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  Speaker 4: that anyone can do. The British military, the Warmings in particular,
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  Speaker 4: have been training for this operation for a long time.
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  Speaker 4: They do this kind of thing anyway, because obviously they've
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  Speaker 4: been trained to intercept suspicious vessels. They do a lot
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  Speaker 4: of countered narcotics operations in the Caribbean, but clearly this
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  Speaker 4: is a new expansion of the mission. The Prime Minister
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  Speaker 4: said in March that he was giving permission to British
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  Speaker 4: forces to exactly do this board sanctioned Russian vessels. But
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  Speaker 4: this is the first time it's happened, and obviously it's
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  Speaker 4: happening after an incredibly dramatic domestic defense week with the
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  Speaker 4: resignation of the Defense Secretary, and clearly there will be
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  Speaker 4: those that will be wandering Is this just politics, given
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  Speaker 4: the Prime Minister is really fronting the fact that this
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  Speaker 4: has happened. I'm not sure that is the case. Operations
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  Speaker 4: like this don't just happen and get turned on over night.
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  Speaker 4: I imagine that have been planning for a while. Probably even
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  Speaker 4: the departing Defense Secretary and departing Armed Forces Minister. Surely
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  Speaker 4: they'd have been aware of this happening. So I don't
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  Speaker 4: know if that is the case or not, but clearly
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  Speaker 4: it really demonstrates for the Ministry of Defense why credible
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  Speaker 4: and capable armed forces are necessary, which they'll be hoping
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  Speaker 4: people around the cabinet perhaps are watching, given that the
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  Speaker 4: previous Defense Secretary has literally just quit, saying that his
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  Speaker 4: colleagues aren't willing to spend enough on defense and warning
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  Speaker 4: that the kind of operation that you're seeing carried out
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  Speaker 4: overnight tonight is the sort last night is the sort
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  Speaker 4: of thing that maybe the British won't want to be
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  Speaker 4: able to do in future if they aren't properly funded.
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  Speaker 4: Because there's going to be a reaction from Russia, you'd expect,
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  Speaker 4: most likely it will be angry words. But this is
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  Speaker 4: the UK taking action, you know, not acting passively, choosing
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  Speaker 4: to board this vessel. And clearly it's not something that
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  Speaker 4: Vladimir Putin's going to be welcoming, certainly not.
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  Speaker 1: Deborah Hanes, thank you very much. Indeed,