Dmitriev accused Starmer of distracting attention by intercepting a tanker in the English Channel.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is using the situation with the tanker interception in the English Channel to distract attention from the country's internal problems, including those related to migration. This was announced on June 14 by Kirill Dmitriev, Special representative of the President of the Russian Federation, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

"Starmer, instead of intercepting his immigrants, <...> is trying to distract the UK by escalating the conflict," he wrote on his page on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

Dmitriev's comment followed Starmer's statement about the interception of an oil tanker in the English Channel, which the British side associates with Russia. According to the British Prime Minister, in the early hours of the morning, he instructed the armed forces to carry out an operation that was successful.

Every man for himself: Turkish tanker with oil from Russia attacked in the Black Sea

This is not the first attack on fuel vessels near the Turkish coast.

The head of the European Union, Kaya Kallas, announced on June 8 that EU ships could detain tankers with Russian oil in the Mediterranean Sea. These actions can be carried out as part of the IRINI operation in Mediterranean waters. According to Kallas, sanctions on freedom of navigation will also be applied against Iran for the first time.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia on June 3 that Western countries were turning into "pirates of the 21st century" because of the hijackings of ships in international waters. She compared the situation to a series of films about the British special agent James Bond, who, according to the plot, was given a "license to kill."