Captain of Russian shadow fleet ship captured by commandos in Channel charged

The captain of a shadow Russian ship carrying oil captured by commandos is to appear in a British court.

Ajay Pant, 38, will appear at Southampton Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with contravening sanctions.

The Indian national and captain of the Smyrtos, has also been charged with directly or indirectly supplying or delivering by ship prohibited oil or oil products from Russia to a third country during June 2026, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Royal Marine commandos and NCA officers seized the tanker in the Channel early on Sunday in the first UK-led operation to capture a sanctioned vessel.

The Smyrtos vessel is anchored off Weymouth, in Dorset where it is being monitored.

The 24 Smyrtos crew members, from Georgia and India, remain on board the ship.

Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ carries 75% of the country’s sanctioned oil, according to the MoD, and operates under obscure ownership as a way of getting around international sanctions.

Despite this, the UK has sanctioned more than 500 of its 700 vessels.

In another operation on June 1, the country intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker suspected of being part of the shadow fleet with UK support.

Speaking on Sky News hours after the capture, Lisa Nandy said: ‘One of the instructions the prime minister gave early on was that he wanted us to be on the front foot, taking that decisive action in order to keep the country safe and deal with the threat posed by Russia.

‘We’ve been able to successfully do that. I want to pay tribute to all the Navy officers involved in that; it is no small achievement, but it is also a significant blow to the Russians.’