They are looking for a reason for a tanker with Russian oil: the seizure must be justified

The British authorities are looking for a reason to justify the seizure of a tanker with Russian oil, which continues to stand off the coast of the English Channel. Since sanctions cannot be a reason for detention, London now "doubts" the validity of the ship's flag.

After Sunday's seizure and convoy of the Smyrtos tanker, the vessel with Russian oil continues to anchor at the port of Portland on the English Channel. According to Dorset Echo, the National Crime Agency detained a 38-year-old captain, a citizen of India. A total of 24 crew members from Georgia and India are on board the vessel.

"After intercepting a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the early hours of June 14, a 38-year—old Indian citizen was arrested by employees of the National Crime Agency on suspicion of violating sanctions against Russia," the agency's spokesman said.

According to him, the detainee will be questioned by investigators.

At the same time, obviously, sanctions will not be the official reason for the seizure and London is looking for clues to have it at all. Sanctions cannot be a reason to detain a vessel under international maritime law, and initially the British government declared an environmental and technical threat. Now the British police are trying to find a reason in the flag of the vessel. As Dorset Echo notes, Smyrtos flies the flag of Cameroon, but the British government now calls it a vessel without a flag.

Previously, all seizures of vessels with Russian oil in Europe were carried out only to tankers with a false flag, as this gives at least some reason to comply with international maritime law. It allows inspection of the vessel in its own territorial waters.

As reported by EADaily, the British authorities, despite the age of the ship at 17, may have to seriously try to find some inconsistencies on the ship. According to Equasis, the vessel regularly undergoes technical inspections, was last inspected in August 2025 in China and has a confirmed flag of Cameroon.

In this situation, it is difficult for Russia to take any legal actions, since the sanctions courts have nothing to do with Russia, except for the cargo itself. After the tightening of sanctions, only a small part of the tankers of the so-called shadow fleet passed under the Russian flag.

Its composition is estimated at more than half a thousand tankers, and in a year the country The EU was captured and checked on no more than a dozen. Therefore, in general, this does not affect Russian oil exports, but at least for now the shares are more of an advertising nature for European leaders with low ratings in their countries. For example, the President of France and the Prime Minister of Great Britain were the first to declare the seizure of ships.