ISTANBUL
Russia claimed on Monday that the UK is planning a false flag incident involving Russia's “shadow fleet” – sea vessels allegedly used to skirt oil sanctions on Moscow – alleging that the plan aims to use media coverage to pressure the US to take secondary sanctions on Moscow’s energy partners.
A statement by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed that British intelligence services, with the involvement of NATO allies, is planning such a step, which it argued “provides for the mounting of major sabotage, with resulting damage making it possible to declare the transportation of Russian oil a threat to all international shipping.”
“This will free the West's hands in choosing methods of counteraction. In the extreme case, we may be talking about detaining any ‘suspicious’ vessels in international waters and escorting them to the ports of NATO states,” the statement said.
It further claimed that the UK is working on two scenarios, the first of which concerns “staging an accident” involving an oil tanker in a narrow maritime passage, helping create a precedent for an “emergency inspection” of the vessel.
The statement said the second scenario involves “setting fire to a tanker during loading in a port in a state friendly to Russia,” which will require an international investigation, which it argued will place responsibility on either Russia or Ukraine.
It went on to claim that the UK wants to time the incident to best exploit media coverage in order to put pressure on the US, looking to force it to place secondary sanctions on Russia’s energy partners.
British authorities have not immediately commented on Russia’s claims.
The statement comes days before a 10-day deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Russia to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine, set for this Friday.
In June, Trump gave Russia a 50-day window, after which he threatened to impose import duties of up to 100% on Russia and its trading partners unless Moscow and Kyiv reach an agreement.
On July 29, Trump announced that he had decided to shorten that deadline to 10 days over his "disappointment" with the lack of progress on the issue.