Tom Cotterill@TomCotterillX
🚨BREAKING🚨Vladimir Putin launched drones from his fleet of sanctioned oil tankers to spy on nuclear weapons in Britain, intelligence experts have claimed.
The drones “exploited numerous gaps” in Nato air defences during a “sustained” 15-month campaign by the Kremlin, according to a report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Among them was RAF Lakenheath, a US base in Suffolk that is preparing to host nuclear bombs. In November 2024, drones breached its airspace, along with three other US sites in England. A sanctioned Russian tanker docked in Hull at the time has since been blamed for launching the drones.
Bases across Europe were also spied on. A secret submarine base at Île Longue in Brittany, northern France, which houses the bulk of the country’s nuclear missiles, was targeted as well as air bases containing nuclear bombs in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Analysts pinpointed the dates and times of drone sightings at military bases, airports and critical civilian infrastructure in 13 European countries between August 2024 and February 2026. On each occasion, one or more Russian shadow fleet tankers happened to be nearby.
During one incident, drones were seen deploying from a Russian spy ship before flying towards a French aircraft carrier, according to the report.
The IISS suggests this paints a picture of a widespread “coordinated” operation over Europe’s skies, making it “likely” that the Kremlin was using its sanctioned ships to deploy drones and spy on Nato’s most sensitive military locations.
“The pattern of sightings across 15 months and 13 countries cannot be explained by misidentification or opportunism alone,” said Charlie Edwards, IISS’s senior fellow for strategy and national security and a co-author of the report.
“Russia has demonstrated, repeatedly and in public, that it can penetrate the airspace of Nato member states – including over nuclear sites – without triggering a collective allied response. That gap between capability and political will is now a strategic vulnerability.”
It comes as The Telegraph can reveal another sanctioned ship, the crude oil tanker the Nyxora, which was sanctioned by the UK in July last year for aiding Russia in its war with Ukraine, is today sailing through the Channel.
The vessel entered the shipping lane near Dover shortly before 8am having left the Russian port of Ust-luga near the Estonian border on June 26 on its way to Singapore.
In March Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, gave the military the approval to board and seize the shadow fleet tankers in UK waters. It followed similar actions undertaken on the shadow fleet in the Mediterranean and Atlantic by French and American forces.
Royal Marines last month boarded their vessel, the Smyrtos, following a six-hour operation.
But Putin has continued to defy the Prime Minister, sailing more of the ships through the Channel, often guarded by Russian warships.
Full story: telegraph.co.uk/gift/5fd16d350…
