An Indian national who captained a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker intercepted by Royal Marine Commandos in the English Channel has been charged with breaching UK sanctions, country's National Crime Agency confirmed.
Ajay Pant, 38, faces charges of directly or indirectly supplying or delivering prohibited Russian oil or oil products to a third country by ship, in contravention of Regulation 46Z9B of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
He is due to appear at Southampton Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. The charges were authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service following a review of the file submitted by the NCA.
Pant was arrested after the MV Smyrtos was interdicted in the early hours of Saturday, in a six-hour operation that saw commandos fast-rope from a helicopter onto the tanker, the first such boarding by UK armed forces.
The vessel is currently being held off the coast of Weymouth. The 24 crew members aboard, Indian and Georgian nationals, remain on the vessel and are said to be assisting the NCA. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander issued a formal order on Monday preventing the ship from leaving UK waters.
The operation marks a significant escalation in Britain's enforcement of sanctions against Russia's so-called shadow fleet, a network of more than 500 tankers sanctioned by the UK for circumventing Western restrictions tied to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
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UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had announced in March that British armed forces were authorised to board sanctioned vessels passing through UK territorial waters.
Speaking in the Commons, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis framed the operation in stark terms.
"Sanctioned oil is bankrolling Putin's brutal war in Ukraine. Every barrel sold helps fund the missiles and drones used to kill Ukrainians in their home, destroy their infrastructure and break their will," he was cited as saying by BBC. Jarvis added that Britain "does not seek escalation but we will always take necessary steps to enforce UK sanctions."
The case is the first criminal prosecution to emerge from the UK's new maritime enforcement posture against Russian sanctions evasion.
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