Brazen Putin taunts Britain by sailing shadow ships close to UK EVERY DAY – as Burnham urged to seize ‘dangerous’ boats

SANCTIONED Russian vessels are still sailing through the English Channel at a rate of almost one a day – with experts warning Andy Burnham must act now to stop tyrant Vladimir Putin. A Sun investigation can reveal that at least 28 ‘banned’ boats have been caught on radar transiting the channel since June 19. The Smyrtos vessel, flying a false Cameroonian flag, was seized on June 14 Credit: Getty The Russian Admiral Grigorovich ship has been patrolling the English Channel and previously shot in the direction of a British pleasure boat Credit: PA It includes many flying under a false flag, like Gabon, Panama or Comoros, which are part of Putin’s illegal “shadow fleet” of tankers. Our probe tracked more than 600 Foreign Office-sanctioned boats around the world using open-source radar tracking data. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! It has sparked calls for more action from new PM Andy Burnham in the Channel to hit Russia‘s global oil trade empire where it hurts. Mr Burnham’s precedessor, Sir Keir Starmer, allowed British forces to seize boats in March. The PM now faces calls to go further and halt dangerous, “clapped-out” oil tankers from passing through Britain’s most vital shipping lane. Boats have continued to go through the Channel since commandos stormed the Smyrtos vessel on June 14 as it passed the Isle of Wight. The captain, Indian national Ajay Pant, was arrested and charged with transporting sanctioned oil. It was the first time the UK had seized a shadow fleet tanker, sanctioned by the Foreign Office, after PM Sir Keir Starmer signed off on the operations in March. Most read in The Sun Earlier this week a Russian warship, the 4,400-ton Neustrashimy, carried out live-fire drills just 40 nautical miles off the coast of Plymouth Credit: EPA The PM now faces calls to go further and halt dangerous “clapped-out” oil tankers from passing through Britain’s most vital shipping lane Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Sun tracking of shadow fleet boats reveals 25 have entered and exited the Channel, but the true number could be higher as others turn off their transponders to avoid detection. One ship, the Argent, a Russian tanker which has previously flown the flags of Gabon and Liberia, has gone through the Channel twice, on June 19 and July 9. Top experts said that the seizing of the Smyrtos had not deterred Putin’s forces from continuing to send shadow fleet boats just miles from British shores. Earlier this week a Russian warship, the 4,400-ton Neustrashimy, carried out live-fire drills just 40 nautical miles off the coast of Plymouth. The frigate was being shadowed by a Royal Navy vessel at the time and its activity is still being tracked “closely”. And a British yacht was shot at by a huge Russian warship 20 miles off the Isle of Wight in a terrifying Channel showdown in June. Alan Kelvey, 71, and wife Jane, 69, eventually arrived in France after an rencounter with Vladimir Putin’s frigate, the Admiral Grigorovich, which had been patrolling the Channel at the time. After the storming of the Smyrtos, several ships re-routed to avoid the Channel entirely, instead going around the west coast of Ireland. Alan and Jane Kelvey, on their yacht Bright Future, came up against a Russian warship in the Channel Credit: Louis Wood Russian 'Shadow Fleet' ships in the Channel Sanctioned Russian ships have continued to use the Channel despite the storming of the Smyrtos. These are the ships The Sun has tracked: Argent (1) – June 19Dinasty – June 21Almond – June 21Progress – June 24Marathon – June 29Atalanta – June 29Spartan – June 30Monarch I (1) – July 1Ariadne – July 1Elyte – July 1Prosperity – July 4Minion – July 5Suleyman I (1) – July 5Zaliv Vostok – July 5Solaris – July 6Lavender – July 6Amulet – July 6Velmar – July 7Prometey – July 7Eminent – July 7Huihai Atlantic – July 9Argent (2) – July 9Carl – July 9Chandra – July 10Odin – July 11Georgy Maslov – July 16Monarch I (2) – July 18Suleyman I (2) – July 24 It means Russian traffic through the Channel has fallen by 40 per cent. Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, told The Sun: “It’s completely flouting the world view about what should be done to stop the flow of oil, and it’s bloody dangerous. “These ships are clapped out – if there’s a crash in the Channel, we will end up paying for it. “We should increase our pace of doing this. “We are among the best in the world at boarding and seizing boats, so the bottom line is that more should be done. “I think that if seizures happened more regularly, and the Captain was charged, the boats would stop coming through the Channel. “If they have a Russian flag and they’re being guarded by a Russian warship, then that is different, because that will be complying with the laws of the sea. “But vessels that change their flags or are falsely flagged, and clearly carry contraband oil, then we cannot allow those to keep breaking the rules.” A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The recent boarding of the vessel Smyrtos shows how we’re prepared to act in disrupting Putin’s shadow fleet, which is fuelling Russia’s war with Ukraine. “We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary, as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships, only benefitting our adversaries. “Any target ship will be individually considered by law enforcement, military and energy market specialists before an operation is executed.” Comment now