Baroness Goldie
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Russian shadow fleet vessel LERUO not being intercepted; and the potential implications of this for Russia’s on-going invasion of Ukraine.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Wood of Anfield) (Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for this Question. I am not going to make specific comment on operational decisions or assessments, as I am sure she understands. To do so would only benefit Russia. Any UK action to intercept Russian shadow fleet vessels would be subject to strict legal procedures and comply with both domestic and international law. Potential targets are subject to assessment by law enforcement, military and energy specialists. Of course, we keep our policy under review.
Baroness Goldie (Con)
My Lords, this country can be proud of the unstinting support against the appalling illegal invasion by Putin that has been given to President Zelensky and Ukraine by successive Governments. Part of that support includes a robust framework of sanctions against Russia and Russian associates. Sanctions without enforcement is weakness, and Putin, like any bully, exploits weakness—but he is afraid of strength. How does it indicate strength to look hesitant in enforcing our sanctions regime, and will other potentially sanction-breaking vessels traversing our waters also be spared interdiction?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
The noble Baroness is absolutely right to point out that it is a consistent policy, and I am proud to say a world-leading policy, of support for Ukraine across different Governments—the last Conservative Government, the previous Labour Prime Minister and the current Labour Prime Minister. It is a consistent policy that we should both maintain and be proud of. The noble Baroness is also absolutely right that strength is important, and I am slightly surprised that she suggested the UK, in her view, has a reputation for weakness. Friend and foe alike acknowledge the UK to be world-leading in the breadth, strength and seriousness of the support it offers.
Since 2024 we have challenged more than 700 suspected shadow fleet vessels. The “Smyrtos” is currently detained by the Secretary of State for Transport under transport sanctions powers. It is easy to look at an individual case and ask why we do not repeat it. I can assure the noble Baroness and the House that serious legal, operational, diplomatic and other concerns go into the decision about interdiction and interception. But the idea that the UK is not leading with a broad-ranging, credible and strong policy on sanctions and not cracking down on shadow fleet vessels is not true.
Lord Addington (LD)
My Lords, when we are dealing with this situation, we are surely talking about making sure that we affect Russia’s capacity to keep waging this war. Can the Government give us some assurance that their attitude towards the shadow fleet, and possibly inspection and boarding, actually works? Can the Minister tell us exactly how he sees that happening now?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
The noble Lord is right that the real test of the serious action taken is whether it changes the calculus and makes an impact. Western sanctions have clearly denied Russia access to an estimated $500 billion since February 2022. Russia’s economy is stagnating: it slashed its economic growth forecast this year from 1.3% to 0.4%, it halved its forecast for 2027 and it is estimated to be paying something like a 40% to 60% premium for imports of sanctioned goods. Obviously, sanctions have been going on much longer than the regime for cracking down on the shadow fleet. But we are galvanising a group of countries that are taking this part of the sanctions action very seriously, and there is strong evidence, as I say, that it is actually having an impact on Russia’s capacity to wage war.
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (CB)
My Lords, no one country can deal with the Russian shadow fleet on its own. Are there any particular plans to work more closely with Germany on dealing with that problem?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
It is absolutely part of our approach to work in partnership, as it has been on the sanctions piece as a whole, as it has been on assembling a coalition of the willing for support for Ukraine and as it has been on assembling a coalition of countries to think ahead to what will be required to sustain the peace. It is an issue that came up in the Prime Minister’s visit to Berlin recently. I had the pleasure of meeting the German Chancellor at the Berlin process event in Montenegro where this issue was also discussed. There absolutely is partnership not just with Germany but with most of our European allies.
Lord Ricketts (CB)
My Lords, I can agree that the Government have an excellent track record on sanctions implementation, as did the previous Government. But while we are talking about Russian shipping, we have today’s news that the Black Sea is becoming more murderous than even the Strait of Hormuz for Ukrainian ships and others transiting to Ukraine. Are we in discussion with the Ukrainian Government about whether there is anything we can do to help tackle this latest manifestation of the Russians constantly changing their tactics to pile further pressure on Ukraine?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
The noble Lord puts his finger on a very important issue: the response of the United Kingdom and other allies to the Russian challenge in Ukraine has to change with the methods and tactics that vary on the part of the Russians. I discussed the Black Sea issue with my Bulgarian counterpart at the Berlin process meeting. It is of widespread concern. We are indeed in discussions with the Ukrainians. As noble Lords will know, this is an issue not just about security of maritime transport but about grain supply for the rest of the world, so it is a global humanitarian issue as well as a regional security issue. I can assure the noble Lord that we are absolutely focused on trying to get allies to provide the support that is relevant for this challenge.
Viscount Stansgate (Lab)
My Lords, speaking of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, can my noble friend tell the House whether the Government have reached a view about who was responsible for the decision effectively to deny to Ukraine the use of Starlink resources on which it depends so heavily for its defence?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that question. Let me quote what the Defence Secretary said on 15 October. He was
“reassured directly by Secretary Hegseth that the service has been restored. And that is a demonstration … of the importance of the US contribution on intelligence sharing”.
Our focus is now on ensuring that we, together with Washington, can provide support for Ukraine in future.
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord will be aware that many of the shadow fleet vessels are potentially substandard. They sail very close to the Danish coast for onward journeys. How closely are the Government working with the Danish Government to avert a potential environmental tragedy as well as the fuelling of Russia’s forces?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
The noble Baroness is right that the concept of a shadow fleet is an organisation of shipping that does not have normal regulation, inspection and processes applied to it. The whole purpose of a shadow fleet is to try to evade international law. That means that issues such as standards and the possible environmental side-effects of substandard vessels are of concern to all the neighbouring countries where this maritime traffic goes through. We talk about it with our Baltic colleagues, in particular our north European and Scandinavian colleagues. It is a focus of our policy.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (Lab)
I support my noble friend the Minister in denying the accusation that in some way this country is being feeble in its exercise of sanctions against Russia to date. We have been in the forefront of the actions taken against Russia in this regard and in support of Ukraine. Anybody saying to the contrary is simply underestimating the effect that we are having in the Kremlin.
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
My noble friend is right that, for those who dislike British policy and those who support British policy, there is usually no doubt that we are a leading figure in the strong opposition we provide. We think Putin has spent about $14 billion to establish the shadow fleet. We have now specified nearly 650 vessels under the sanctions regime, including more than 600 oil tankers. We have sanctioned more than 3,500 individuals, entities and ships under the regime, more than 3,300 of which have been sanctioned since Putin’s full-scale invasion. This country is proudly leading an aggressive but warranted response to Russia’s continuing brutal attack on Ukraine, and we should be proud of it.
Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)
My Lords, on the subject of feebleness, can the Minister say what the effect of the United States’ unilateral decision to lift sanctions on diesel exports has been so far? Is it having any effect on the market at all?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that question. It is early days to look at any effect on the global price. The calculation made at the time, a couple of weeks ago, was that it would have a negligible impact on global prices. As I and my ministerial colleagues have said before, it is not a choice that we would have made. But our challenge now is to work with the United States, because without the United States there can be no long-run solution to a conflict that supports a peaceful, stable Ukraine.
Lord Pannick (CB)
Can the Minister assure the House that the decision not to intercept this vessel has nothing whatever to do with the policies of the President of the United States or, indeed, with representations made by the Government of the United States?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
Decisions about all interceptions are made using criteria that, sadly, I am reluctant to discuss for the reason I gave at the beginning: advertising them and discussing their complexities would aid only the Russians and the Russian war effort. All decisions are made using these criteria. They are hard and complicated decisions, but the criteria are used for all such cases.
Earl Russell (LD)
My Lords, as the NATO and British authorities have now found more than 500 instances of Russian fishing vessels having tracked our critical undersea energy and telecommunications infrastructure, what further thought and actions are the Government taking with our allies to provide further deterrence to these unwanted activities?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
The noble Earl raises a vital aspect of hybrid warfare. It is fair to say that anyone who is following European politics, British politics and national politics across the European continent will know that there has been not just a strong, galvanised effort in the last two or three months to focus on hybrid attacks, including the challenge of undersea cables and the particular dependence we have on certain undersea cables, but a strong attempt—which I am proud to say the UK is leading—on sharing information across countries. President von der Leyen recently talked about the need to develop a Europe-wide capacity on disinformation, but also on hybrid threats. We are working closely with our European allies on these things.
Lord Redwood (Con)
My Lords, will the Government speed up work on our naval vessels that are in home harbours, pending work on them, so that we have more naval vessels available to police our seas?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
We continue to do the maintenance, repair and support work that we need to do for our fleet.
Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)
My Lords, the focus of this Question is on how we continue to build the international coalition around tackling the Russian shadow fleet. Have the Government made any assessment of where Russia might seek to replace the ships that are taken out of commission by these actions, so that we can try to prevent Russia acquiring further ships in future?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
My noble friend raises an important point about the supply of these often substandard vessels—as the noble Baroness said earlier—which will be tomorrow’s shadow fleet. We are doing a lot of work on that, and on co-operating with allies and third-party countries to try to assess that. Noble Lords will excuse me if I do not go into details about what that is, but my noble friend is exactly right that this is a forward-thinking way to act, rather than just responding to the day-to-day challenge of trying to tackle this long-term problem.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)
My Lords, the Government have rejected my amendments to strengthen penalties for tampering with critical undersea cables, whether by Russian shadow boats or by other operators, so I was very pleased to see the announcement by Ian Murray last week promising such action. My question is: when will this actually happen?
Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)
If I were in charge of parliamentary timetables, I would be able to give the noble Baroness an exact answer; whether I would is another question, but I could give her an exact answer. This is a priority, as Ian said in his Statement. It is a priority not just because the law needs updating but because of the nature of the threat, as the noble Lord raised earlier. I am happy to provide more details on timing, or my colleague will, when more details emerge.