Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent oil spills by the Russian shadow fleet in the English Channel.

The Government is working with likeminded partners, including the G7+ Coalition, to respond to violations of the Oil Price Cap and to disrupt Russia’s shadow fleet. This includes imposing additional sanctions measures on those engaged in deceptive practices while transporting Russian oil. The UK has already imposed sanctions on individuals and entities involved in Russia’s shadow fleet and we are preparing to bolster our existing powers to target individual shadow fleet vessels.

We are also enhancing monitoring and enforcement and supporting industry with sanctions compliance by updating rules and regulations as necessary. This includes the Oil Price Cap Compliance and Enforcement Alert issued by the G7+ Coalition on 1st February this year. The alert sets out the shadow fleet’s methods of oil price cap evasion to support stakeholders with identifying evasion and reporting it, so that enforcement action can be taken.