The BBC reports:
Royal Marines board Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in English Channel
Piracy or a provocation to provoke a Russian response to justify all the UK sabre-rattling about a Russian threat?
Who knows but they surely can't keep doing this and not expecting some kind of response from Russia.
Perhaps a Nordstream type response whereby a hole is blown in the side of the tanker by who knows whom - just like Nordstream - to create a Torrey Canyon type environmental disaster in the English channel.
Meduza reported on the legal position of previous tanker seizures:
‘A new precedent’ In an interview with Meduza, expert Pierre Thévenin breaks down the maritime law behind Washington’s recent tanker seizures
https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/01/09/a-new-precedent
But really it doesn't matter if it is piracy or a provocation - it's an escalation.
So let's hope the UK is prepared for what that might trigger - especially when people are seriously discussing the possible limited use of nuclear weapons in Europe.