Russian Frigate Escorts Two Sanctioned Tankers Through the English Channel

Overview

• The frigate Admiral Grigorovich, which escorted the tankers on Tuesday, was trailed in the Channel by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s tanker RFA Tideforce.
• The oil carriers Universal and Enigma left ports in Russia’s Leningrad region and, according to MarineTraffic, are now in the Celtic Sea.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would protect its shipping from what he called “piracy” in international waters.
• Britain has blacklisted 544 vessels tied to Russia’s so‑called shadow fleet and recently authorized detaining such ships in UK waters.
• Two more sanctioned tankers, Desert Kite and Kousai, moved the other way through the Channel in the same period, in a flow analysts say has sent more than 300 such vessels through UK waters since January.