Putin laughing after throwing down the gauntlet to Starmer on our doorstep

The Kremlin must now believe they have properly called the UK’s bluff. It’s been more than three weeks since the UK gave special forces the green light to carry out the interceptions. And so far, not one vessel has been seized.

Moscow must believe the UK’s bark is bigger than its bite, which in itself sets a worrying precedent.

The Grigorovich, as revealed by The Telegraph, sailed west across the Channel with the 600ft tankers Universal and Enigma on Wednesday morning.

Following them was a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker, RFA Tideforce.

One can only imagine Mr Putin and his Kremlin cronies chuckling away.

‘It’s not even a warship!’ you can hear them saying, in what is another example of the Navy’s declining surface fleet.

The Government hoped its tough talk of ‘closing off UK waters’ to the sanctioned vessels would divert the ships on longer, slower routes or face seizure.

It’s thought more vessels have altered their course away from the Channel, however, a significant number continue to sail off the south coast of England.

At least 25 sanctioned ships passed through UK waters in the first seven days following Sir Keir’s announcement, with analysis by Reuters suggesting ships were travelling through the Channel in the same numbers as before.

The shadow fleet is accused of circumventing international sanctions by ferrying Russian oil and gas, helping to fund Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The ships, of which there are believed to be some 700, are typically ageing oil tankers with murky ownership and dubious flagging.

So far, the UK’s tough talk on the shadow fleet is just that; talk.

And Sir Keir’s words of “starving Putin’s war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign in Ukraine” look increasingly flimsy without action.

In a game of international sanctions poker, Mr Putin has called the UK’s hand and found it, at this stage, empty.