Russia has made £239bn from oil tankers in the Channel. Now to stop it

Well-oiled machine An investigation by The Sunday Times has uncovered the scale of Russian oil exports passing through British waters. It has revealed how the Royal Navy plans to use drone boats to identify sanctioned ships and, where it can, seize them. Since early 2022, Russia has shipped 550 million tonnes of oil (approximately four billion barrels) through the English Channel, worth £239 billion. The analysis is based on data supplied by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think tank that has recorded every oil export from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine four…