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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Saletisti onnistui! So footage has been released by the Ministry of Defence of an operation to board a shadow Russian oil tanker in the English Channel.
And they're very dramatic images. You can see helicopters flying low in the darkness. And then you can see actually with their guns going down the stairs, boarding the ship of what happened this morning.
And Russia's shadow fleet are essentially tankers that are still moving oil around the world, trying to defy the sanctions in order to keep the Russian war economy that funds the war in Ukraine going. The government said in January that they would look at doing this. But it's significant this morning. It's the first operation of its kind yet.
And those images now will dominate the news probably for at least for the rest of the day.
So off we go with Sunday's newscast. Newscast.
Newscast from the BBC. Humanity's next great voyage begins. We are in the midst of a rupture.
Nostalgia will not bring back the old order. Six seven. Yeah. It's supposed to be me as a doctor. Daddy has also a special connotation. Ooh la la.
Thinking about it like a panto helped.
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Chapter 2: What happened during the Royal Marines' operation in the English Channel?
And it's also Joe Pike in the studio.
Hello, Joe. It's very nice having you with us again at the weekend.
Hi, Laura.
Hello. So at seven minutes past seven, the Prime Minister posted online, and I will just read it because this is a big story. In the early hours of this morning, I directed our armed forces to intercept a Shadow Fleet oil tanker attempting to pass through the English Channel. This successful operation delivers yet another blow to Russia, which
and reminds those fueling Putin's war in Ukraine that we will not let them hide. I want to thank those involved, including our armed forces and law enforcement officers who keep this country safe. Now, in and of itself, it is a significant story, but it's kind of really pertinent given that the prime minister has been in a giant row about not giving enough money to defence in the last few days.
It's a good example of some progress, in particular, as Laura, they've been talking about this. We've been talking about this for many months. The legislation came through, I think, in what, March, giving armed forces the power to board vessels. But we've had this sort of weird, awkward wait.
Al Khans, the former Armed Forces Minister on your programme, seemed to be saying there were a couple of reasons for that. partly because in some cases there were other Russian vessels protecting tankers. Secondly, because there were concerns about making sure they had sort of the right legal justification, but also they needed to ensure the right cargo was on the ship.
to prove it is part of a shadow fleet. And with those sort of different boxes ticked, it meant that tonight was the night that those Marine commandos and all of these quite long list of aircraft got involved and apprehended the SMERTOS, previously the MERTOS. Right. Well, it's now on its way to an anchorage in the southeast of England.
It represents a more muscular approach by the UK government because other countries have boarded these tankers from the Russian oil fleet. the shadow fleet, which is said to carry 75% of sanctioned oil. So we had BBC's Frank Gardner on Radio 4 today, and I asked him if he was braced for this, if he was anticipating this.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of Russia's shadow fleet in the context of sanctions?
They obviously want the public to be aware that this is going on. But as Frank was hinting there, this is a ratcheting up. You know, what happens if... there was to be another event like this and actually there was a Russian military capability there guarding and perhaps they wanted to retaliate in some way.
I'm not saying that's going to happen, but such an activity like this is a ratcheting up, isn't it?
And certainly it seems to be very intense in terms of the capabilities that we use just for this single ship. In terms of the list of stuff that the MOD have given us, they talked about aircraft from the Maritime Air Group, Chinooks, Merlin MK4 and Wildcats.
There was also this P-8 aircraft, which is a sort of big surveillance aircraft, normally used to be chasing submarines rather than Shadow Fleet ships. And then the HMS Sutherland, a frigate, which is again a submarine hunter, but also the HMS Ledbury, which is a mine hunter.
And that's, of course, in addition to those Marines you mentioned, guys, but also the Specially Trained Officers for the National Crime Agency. If there are around 500 that are sanctioned out of what we think is maybe 700 plus total ships in the Shadow Fleet. I mean, there are a lot of opportunities perhaps in the coming months to try and intercept them.
But that in itself will be very labour intensive and pretty expensive too, maybe. Well, Frank said this is an expensive operation. And therefore, it does lead in to the question of the wider arguments been had in the past few days, including resignations. the defence investment plan and basically put how much money have we got to do things including this.
That's right. And Al Carnes, who was one of the ministers who quit this week, was the Armed Forces Minister. Before he came into politics, he was a Marine. He was then in the Special Boat Service. And he told us this morning there might be more operations like this. And he also explained a little bit about the kind of thing that would have actually gone on.
While we were sleeping safely last night, there were all been Marines and Navy and Air Force personnel boarding helicopters, flying low level over the sea, rearing up before the ship, fast roping onto the ship, securing it, and then taking it into our territorial waters. An amazing operation, excellently prosecuted by our Royal Marines and others.
And how is it the case, though, that this hasn't happened for such a long time? Because the government made quite a lot of noise about saying, look, we will do this. There are these ships moving through the channel, seemingly quite regularly, helping to finance Putin's war in Ukraine. So why hasn't it happened until today?
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Chapter 4: Why did the UK government decide to board the Russian oil tanker now?
Urban legend.
for defence? Al put it really well in his resignation letter. We've got to transform the way that we do defence spending to make sure that what we're spending is fit for the threats that we face now and in the future, not just the threats that we faced in the past. We've got to significantly increase the amount that we're spending on defence and we've already done that as a government.
But since we published that strategic defence review last year, and reach the levels of funding that they had recommended. The threat level has changed and we've got to change accordingly.
And finally, we've also got to make sure that we're investing in our broader national resilience, the sort of things that Al referenced in the letter, like economic security, like strong communities, strong public services, young people who have hope that the future on offer is going to be worth working for and fighting for and those things all have to be done at once.
So although I really respect John, he is a fantastic colleague and I know he won't have taken this decision lightly, the challenge still remains that we have got to meet this moment and do all three of those things.
It's interesting to hear a government secretary of state saying that, quoting the resignation letter... I know, wasn't it?
Yes, she said, I agree with Al, or as Al has said, actually on several occasions. But we are in quite a surreal place at the moment in politics. I mean, if we just wind out for a minute... Most people in Parliament, in the Labour Party, think that Keir Starmer is not going to be Prime Minister for very much longer.
There is a by-election on Thursday where the guy who wants to replace him is trying to win so that he can come back to number 10. It is possible that in the next five days, the Prime Minister's fate is going to be sealed.
So all of these conversations are frankly a bit weird at the moment because it's just as pertinent a question to say, and I'm not predicting what's going to happen on Thursday, but it's just as pertinent to say, would Andy Burnham find another 10 billion quid for defence?
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Chapter 5: What military resources were involved in the operation against the tanker?
So even if this is signed today and it happens as Trump predicted, the hangover from this conflict is still going to be with us for a long time. And we saw this week, didn't we, with those economic figures that showed actually the economy going the wrong way. as the impact of that conflict closing the Straits of Hormuz is starting to be felt.
In terms of the choreography, presumably Donald Trump wants to get this all sorted before he travels to Evian for mineral water and diplomacy at the G7. He does want those three days for him to look like he has achieved something. Remarkable. He's the sort of person as well who likes to time things personally. So it's his 80th birthday and he's having sort of all sorts of celebrations.
Including a cage fight.
Well, of course. I mean, who wouldn't? I mean, I think back to my many birthdays.
You've never been in a cage.
No, I've never been in a cage. Give it time. But the thing is, to time a big announcement on his birthday is the way he rolls, isn't it? Although we should say this only started because of Donald Trump. He's not solving somebody else's conflict. It's his own conflict and the problems we're all facing in terms of our diesel and petrol prices.
Well, but his supporters say we should have tackled this before. Because who wants Iran to have a nuclear bomb? That's how the argument goes. Of course, and one of his former national security advisors, John Bolton, thinks he should have gone further and should go further now to ensure that Iran is in a far weaker position.
However, we can't characterise him as solving some intractable piece, intractable sort of problem on the world stage. This is something that he did start himself.
Yes, and if he hails a peace deal as a victory for himself, it is a deal to end a conflict that he and Benjamin Netanyahu began. The reasons, as you say, Paddy, there were people who would argue it was absolutely the right thing to do, but this conflict was instigated by them.
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Chapter 6: How does this operation reflect the UK's defense strategy?
I think there's also going to be a kind of curfew or time limit also for teenagers. So there's a huge debate, though, about whether or not this is really effective, if these are the right kinds of measures. The evidence from the ban in Australia has been mixed. There's a lot of evidence of kids being able to get round it.
What Lisa Nandy said to us this morning is what the ban could institute is kind of cultural change. So you make it kind of, you know, socially unacceptable, not a thing that young teenagers should be doing.
Yeah.
But there are really strong views on this and campaigners also are split on this. But there are quite a few people, including Ian Russell, who's been one of the leading campaigners on this for years for all the wrong reasons, because his daughter took her own life, having been bombarded with distressing material online.
But Ian told us yesterday he's really angry because he suspects that the prime minister is doing this for political reasons, which, of course, Downing Street denies. And that they're rushing towards a sort of blanket ban rather than something tougher, more sophisticated and more nuanced. So we'll see how this all evolves tomorrow.
and also with respect to Ian Russell, who's been on Newscast with us, that polls say that the public are in favour of these.
Yeah, very strongly.
Many families listening, many parents listening, and older teenagers listening will be aware of the absolute tsunami of material that can go the way of under-16-year-olds.
That's right. And I think what ministers support over this, and certainly what opposition parties, where the Tories have been campaigning on this for a long time,
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Chapter 7: What future operations might follow this boarding of the tanker?
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