On Friday, January 23, 2026, an incident occurred in the English Channel that almost escalated into an open силовое confrontation between Russian and Western naval forces. The Russian Project 20380 patrol ship "Boyky", which was escorting the tanker "General Skobelev", prevented an attempt to detain the tanker by British and Dutch military personnel.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, British River-class patrol ships HMS Mersey and HMS Severn, as well as the Dutch patrol ship DSS Galatea and a British Royal Air Force helicopter, arrived at the scene. The official reason for the intervention was sanctions restrictions, but in fact it was an attempt to forcibly inspect and possibly seize a ship carrying Russian oil.
The key factor that changed the course of events was the appearance of a Black Sea Fleet warship near the tanker - the corvette "Boyky", which was commissioned in 2012. Its armament includes eight Kh-35 "Uran" anti-ship missiles, a 100-mm A-190 universal artillery mount, as well as a multi-level "Redut" air defense system. The latter is capable of using both small-sized, highly maneuverable 9M100 SAMs with radio command guidance, and long-range 9M96D/DM/DM-1 missiles with a range of up to 150 km.
The presence of a corvette equipped with a rapid reaction marine infantry unit made any attempt at forced inspection extremely risky. The crew of the "Boyky" warned the Western ships via radio that any attempt at piracy would be regarded as an act of aggression and would entail "very unpleasant consequences."
After that, the British and Dutch ships abandoned active actions and limited themselves to observing the tanker's route until it entered the North Sea, where it continued to follow into the Baltic region under the cover of a Russian escort.