UK intelligence agencies plan to involve NATO allies to raid ‘shadow fleet’: Russia claims

MOSCOW: The UK’s intelligence agencies are planning to enlist NATO allies in a large-scale operation targeting the “shadow fleet,” which could lead to an environmental disaster in international waters, the press bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement obtained by TASS.

As per the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this plan provides for a major act of sabotage to force Washington into sanctioning buyers of Russian energy.

In a post on X, the Russian MFA said, “Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service: UK intelligence agencies plan to involve NATO allies to launch a massive raid on the ‘shadow fleet’. This plan provides for a major act of sabotage to force Washington into sanctioning buyers of Russian energy.”

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service:

UK intelligence agencies plan to involve NATO allies to launch a massive raid on the ‘shadow fleet’.

This plan provides for a major act of sabotage to force Washington into sanctioning buyers of Russian energy.https://t.co/HZl33A0M7j pic.twitter.com/l88p5kM7xP

— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) August 4, 2025

https://x.com/mfa_russia/status/1952391437288370641

“British secret services are planning ecological disaster in international waters. The press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation informs that, according to the information coming to the SVR (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service), the British secret services are planning to involve NATO allies in a massive roundup for the ‘shadow fleet’,” the statement said.

According to the UK’s plan, the impetus for such a campaign should be provided by “a resonant incident involving one or more tankers.”

“The plan involves organizing a major act of sabotage the losses of which would allow the transportation of Russian oil to be declared a threat to all international shipping. This would untie Western countries’ hands in choosing methods of counteraction,” the document said, as quoted by Tass.

According to the SVR, the British are working on “two potential casus belli.” “The first scenario implicates setting up an ‘unwanted’ tanker accident in one of bottlenecks of sea communications (for example, in straits). As it is believed in London, oil spills and fairway blocking would provide NATO countries with ‘sufficient’ grounds for establishing a precedent of ‘extraordinary’ vessel inspection under the guise of maritime safety and environmental regulations compliance,” the statement noted.

The SVR pointed out that the timing of the UK attack is intended to be chosen so as to use the media effect from it to put pressure on the administration of US President Donald Trump, as per Tass.

“The aim is to force Washington, in defiance of its national interests, to impose the most severe secondary sanctions against Russian energy resources buyers, making them seen as ‘indirect culprits of the tragedy’,” the statement said, as per Tass. (ANI)