Scotland on the 'frontline', as Russian tanker seized amid talks over defence spending
The vessel was intercepted in the early hours of Sunday morning and is now anchored off the coast of England.
Scotland is on the “frontline” of the UK’s fight against Russia, an MP has warned, after Royal Marine Commandos boarded a shadow fleet oil tanker.
Russian vessels and jets have been spotted near Scottish waters and airspace in recent years - including a Russian spy ship using lasers to disrupt RAF pilot activity in the north last year.
Labour MP Graeme Downie said Scotland is a “frontline nation” as the UK government continues negotiations on defence spending, following a wave of Ministry of Defence resignations over military funding in the last week.
Mr Downie said: “I think what we need to understand in Scotland in particular is that we are a frontline nation in an ongoing conflict with Russia.
“We’ve got the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap that we see RAF jets from Lossiemouth taking off routinely to intercept.
“I think what we need to understand as a country is that we are under threat from Russia on a daily basis.”
His concerns were echoed by Professor Rick Fawn, an expert in international security at University of St Andrews, who said it was “very likely” Scotland-based defence assets would become more important in the face of the threat posed by Russia.
Scotland already plays a key role in UK defence, as the Royal Navy’s four Vanguard-class submarines, 16 Trident missiles and five nuclear-powered Astute-class attack submarines are based at Faslane on the Firth of Clyde. Nuclear warheads are also stored at Coulport armaments depot on Loch Long.
Mr Downie’s comments came just hours after Royal Marine Commandos and specialist law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency intercepted the vessel Smyrtos in an operation in the English Channel that lasted six hours.
The operation on Sunday was supported by the Maritime Air Group, an RAF P-8 aircraft, HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury and was done in coordination with France. The MoD was yesterday holding the vessel off the coast of Weymouth.
The MoD said the operation happened in international waters and was more than 12 nautical miles from the UK coast, but was done in full compliance of both domestic and international law.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia and reminds those fuelling Putin’s war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide.”
Smyrtos was failing under a Cameroon flag and left Ust-Luga port near St Petersburg on June 5. It then crossed west into the Channel on Saturday, despite being sanctioned by the UK since July 2025. Since being sanctioned, the vessel has changed its name and the flag it sails under twice.
Russia is operating a “shadow fleet” of around 700 tankers to evade international sanctions on its oil imports, carrying around 75 per cent of Russia’s sanctioned oil.
So far there has been no response from Moscow, however it has previously described similar interceptions as illegal and “bordering on international piracy”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the UK for “taking this important step against Russia’s oil fleet”.
Posting on X, he said: “Europe urgently needs to take legislative steps to enable not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry.”
Prof Fawn said: “Lossiemouth and Faslane are fundamental to Scottish and overall UK defence, and it is very likely that Russian military and intelligence take a constant and deep interest in them.
“We must not lose sight as we focus on the visuals of the tanker seizure that huge threats are cyber-based and those threats are near constant.”
Prof Fawn, whose research has included the management of threats across the European Union’s eastern flanks, said Scotland based personnel and resources were “essential,” adding: “Scotland is in line with the northern side of vital Nato defences against Russia.”
This comes just days after a raft of resignations from the MoD over the UK Government’s defence investment plan, which will be published in the coming weeks.
John Healey resigned as defence secretary, saying the proposed level of military spending “falls well short” of what is needed to protect the UK.
Armed Forces Minister Al Carns also resigned, saying the plan was “neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded”.
Scottish Labour MP Pamela Nash also resigned as Mr Healey’s parliamentary assistant, citing “delays and difficulties with securing the necessary funding to progress the defence investment plan”.
Dan Jarvis, who has replaced Mr Healey as defence secretary, said the UK government must “meet the moment” when it comes to increasing defence spending.
Mr Downie, MP for Dunfermline and Dollar, agreed defence spending had to increase.
He said : “[This is] an argument that we’ve got to win inside the party, inside the government, to make sure that that happens and we’ve got the kind of capabilities that we need to defend the country.”
He also suggested that the Labour Party has failed to persuade the public of the need to increase defence spending.
Mr Downie said looking at the funding of triple-locked pensions should be part of the discussions on how to raise defence spending.
However, on cutting welfare to fund defence he told the BBC The Sunday Show: “We will not strengthen the country by putting more people into poverty.”
He added that the UK government has made “some very good progress” on defence but admitted there had been “mistakes that have been playing out publicly”.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy suggested to BBC Sundays with Laura Kuenssberg that negotiations over defence spending are still ongoing.
She said: “This is the first operation of its kind and we are very hopeful that it will be replicated not just by us but by allies as well.
“The Prime Minister has wanted for some time to deal with the threat Russia poses and disrupt the financial footing on which the war is being fought in Ukraine.”
She added Sir Keir has been “clear with us in cabinet” that the government “needs more money for defence”.
Ms Nandy then said: “Discussions are ongoing and we are looking very carefully at how we achieve that.”
She added: “These conversations are not finished, the negotiations are not finished.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said the MoD needs as much as an extra £28 billion in funding over the next few years, and that cutting welfare spending needs to be “a big part of it”.
Sir Keir said in March that the UK would join northern European allies in intercepting Russia’s shadow fleet, in an attempt to “go after” the sanction-breaking ships “even harder”.
Moscow’s shadow fleet is reported to be made up of more than a thousand ageing tankers that illicitly ship oil and other goods out of Russia by flying the flags of other countries, with the aim of evading sanctions imposed by the West since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Closing off British waters to the shadow fleet is aimed at forcing the Russian vessels into taking longer, more costly sea routes, or risk being intercepted by the UK.
British forces have already been involved in tracking shadow fleet vessels for several years, and have supported operations by other countries to seize the ships.
Mr Jarvis said: “Operations like this require skill, professionalism and courage.
“I pay tribute to our armed forces personnel and all those involved.
“Russia relies on its shadow fleet to fund their conflict in Ukraine and our interdiction delivers a blow to Putin’s illegal war.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on X: “I pay tribute to the brave Royal Marine Commandos who boarded a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker overnight in the English Channel.
“Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine is funded by their oil exports in defiance of sanctions.
“As Leader of the Opposition, I support the Government in standing with Ukraine.”
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