Kremlin mouthpiece Dmitry Rogozin, a senator and former Russian representative to NATO, called for Russia to mine its shadow fleet tankers and trigger explosions if the Royal Navy seizes the vessels.

‘We need to mine the tankers we use,’ he said, suggesting the bombs be set off if tankers deviate from their routes and reach a foreign port.

‘If a couple of explosions happen under their noses with oil spills and related environmental consequences, they’ll soon change their minds,’ he added.

Rogozin also accused the UK of going back to the 16th to 18th centuries, when it ‘actively used pirates in the service of the crown for its political and economic interests.’

Rogozin added: ‘These pirates received “privateer’s patents” from the state, which allowed them to plunder ships and colonies of England’s enemies.

British forces storm Russian oil tanker

‘This helped to weaken rivals – primarily Spain – disrupt their trade, and expand British colonies. Everything new is just the well-forgotten old.’

After being raided today, the SMYRTOS vessel will be provisionally anchored off the English south coast and monitored, a joint statement by the Prime Minister, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis and the Ministry of Defence said.

Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ carries 75% of the country’s sanctioned oil, according to the MoD, and operates under obscure ownership as a way of getting around international sanctions.

Despite this, the UK has sanctioned more than 500 of its 700 vessels.

Today’s operation was supported by the Maritime Air Group, an RAF P-8 aircraft, HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.