What are these Russian tankers doing in the English Channel?
A sanctioned Russian tanker is currently sailing through the English Channel - just one day after the US and its allies seized a Kremlin-flagged vessel off the coast of Iceland.
Will Britain actually do anything about it? Andrew Marr hears from former Director General of RUSI, Michael Clarke, to hear his assessment.
The ship in question was sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control in both 2021 and 2024 while sailing under the name Tia.
Since then, it has been sailing under the false name "Arcusat" and has been reflagged to Cameroon.
Likely making its way to Russia, the tanker left the STAR Rafineri, near Izmir, Turkey, on 30 December.
This comes just hours after two Russian and Venezuelan-flagged oil tankers were seized by the US and its allies, including with help from the UK.
The seizures were conducted as part of the US Coast Guard's dual operation to seize Venezuela-linked oil tankers in a "meticulously coordinated" operation, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
The operations, which took place within hours of each other, saw troops board one ship in the North Atlantic Sea and another in international waters near the Caribbean.
The tankers - the Marinera and the Sophia - were "either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it."
Speaking on Wednesday evening, Defence Secretary John Healey told Ministers that while no UK personnel took part in the boarding of the Marinera, its forces supported the operation "at the request of the US".
The hastily reflagged oil tanker was under US military surveillance roughly 250 miles off the coast of Ireland after evading interception in the Caribbean last month, changing its name, and turning north towards Russia.
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