Are Russian connections preventing Tories from stopping oil spill threat?

 i newspaper reported yesterday:

Foreign flagged vessels up to 23 years of age – far beyond the operating limit observed by Western shipping companies – are regularly transiting the Dover Straits carrying up to one million barrels of Russian oil at a time despite the West’s efforts to drastically slow the flow of petro-dollars into Moscow’s coffers.

Shipping sources have told i that the tankers – part of a burgeoning so-called “shadow fleet” assembled to transport Russian “Urals” crude to customers around the world, particularly India and China – represent a growing danger of a major oil spill or major mechanical failure as they traverse busy shipping lanes and perform “high-risk” ship-to-ship (STS) transfers in open seas.

Most nations' shipping registries require a high standard of seaworthiness and regular inspections - which cost a lot of money. So unscrupulous operators will turn to flags of convenience. 

One leading expert on Russia and its energy markets told i that increasing numbers of these ageing tankers are plying a route from Russia’s Baltic ports through the English Channel and it is “far from clear” that such vessels – some of which have previously been identified as carrying sanctioned Iranian and Venezuelan oil – meet adequate safety certification and insurance standards. The issue is further complicated by opaque ownership structures with many vessels listed under shell companies in tax havens and commercial hubs such as Hong Kong. [...] the reality of the threat posed by dark ships had been grimly highlighted by events off the Malaysian coast on 1 May when the Pablo, a decrepit Gabon-registered oil tanker built in 1997, caught fire and a series of spectacular explosions blew its entire deck into the sea, killing three crew members.

Some 50 days after its demise, the gutted vessel remains where it was with no known insurer and the authorities struggling to locate its tax haven-registered owners. In the meantime, heavy fuel oil from the ship is washing up on Malaysian shores.

International shipping rules are liberal. However, it has been suggested that the UK could intervene under the United Nations treaty which gives coastal states some powers to prevent commercial vessels judged to be hazardous from approaching their shores. One wonders whether the Royal Navy currently has the resources to carry out this protection effectively. One also wonders how extensive are the links between the dark ship operators and Russian funders of the Tory organisation, which might inhibit the action which is clearly urgently necessary.