Russian Intel Warns of UK Plan to Stage Tanker Incident
British intelligence agencies are planning to involve NATO allies in launching a large-scale crackdown on the so-called "shadow fleet" carrying Russian oil, the press bureau of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Monday.
"According to information received by the SVR, British intelligence services are planning to engage NATO allies to carry out a massive sweep of the 'shadow fleet'. London’s idea is to trigger such a campaign with a high-profile incident involving one or several tankers. The plan envisions staging a major act of sabotage, the damage from which would allow them to declare Russian oil transportation a threat to global maritime navigation," the statement said.
According to the SVR, this would give the West free rein in choosing methods of counter-action.
"In the extreme scenario, this could mean detaining any 'suspicious' vessels in international waters and escorting them to NATO member-state ports," the statement added.
The plan envisions staging a major act of sabotage, the damage from which would allow the transportation of Russian oil to be deemed a threat.
"The UK intends to time the attack to maximize its media impact and use it to pressure Donald Trump’s administration. The goal is to force Washington, against its own national interests, to adopt the harshest possible secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy resources, portraying them as ‘indirect culprits of the tragedy,’" the SVR emphasized.
London allegedly plans to assign the execution of these anti-Russian attacks on tankers to Ukrainian security forces.
"Their predictably dirty work and inability to ‘cover their tracks’ are seen by the British as a guarantee of their own impunity. An international investigation would place responsibility either on Russia or – at worst – on Ukraine, similar to the sabotage of Nord Stream," the SVR statement said.
