Greenpeace activists send boat to confront Russian oil shipment in Humber Estuary
The group of activists confronted the 183m oil tanker which had 42,000 tonnes of Russian fuel oil and asked them to turn back.
The boat was sent by Greenpeace to demand Seavictory returned to Russia as it was anchored off the Humber Estuary, heading for a refinery in England.
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Hide AdA video published by Greenpeace shows their boat, Sea Beaver, pulling up alongside the huge tanker and quizzing them about where the cargo was from and what its plans were.
The dramatic stand off shows the captain of the charity boat ask if he was aware the cargo was fuelling the war in Ukraine.
The captain replied: "Yes sir, that is correct. However, this is an order from the company so I just follow the directions."
Asked to turn round and go home, he added: "I will call my company about this and if they ask me to leave, I will leave."
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Hide AdWhen asked where it was from, he replies "Tuapse, Russia''. Campaigners are calling on the UK government to ban all Russian fossil fuel imports.
Georgia Whitaker, oil and gas campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “The UK’s attachment to fossil fuels is backfiring in the worst way possible - we are funding a war, our energy bills and fuel costs are sky-high, and we’re driving the climate crisis. It has to stop.
“Putin invaded Ukraine almost two months ago, yet fossil fuel money is still funding his war chest from the UK because our sanctions aren’t worth the paper they’re written on and still allow Russian shipments to arrive.
“Every Russian import funds an increasingly deadly war. Until the UK government implements an explicit and immediate ban on Russian oil and gas, it will continue to have Ukrainian blood on its hands.”
According to Greenpeace, the Seavictory tanker travels under a Maltese flag, but is carrying fuels from the Russian port of Tuapse.