SIR KEIR STARMER ramped up his anti-Russian war rhetoric today with a pledge to seize Russian ships suspected of carrying oil.

The Prime Minister’s latest provocation came as he visited Helsinki making his usual doom-laden forecasts.

He said that Britain and other Western countries were now in “a war on two fronts,” referring to the Ukraine and Iran conflicts.

“I’m giving permission for the UK to intercept Russian shadow fleet ships, these are ships that are unlawfully breaching sanctions, usually with oil. We’ll be working with others on that project,” he said.

Since sanctions on Russian oil are not authorised by the UN, they have no standing in international law.

And he recommitted to escalating arms spending, saying: “I’ve already committed to increasing defence spend. We have the commitments to go further and we will keep those commitments.”

Sir Keir told the Joint Expeditionary Force summit in the Finnish capital: “The focus is very much on Russian aggression in Ukraine and we have to accept that there’s a war on two fronts – there’s the Iranian conflict and the continuing Ukrainian conflict.”

He added that “the threat from Russia in the north and east has not gone away. In fact, in my view that threat has grown.”

His latest threat could see naval commandos boarding Russian ships in British waters in order to choke off Russian oil exports.

The move aims to force Russian ships to take longer, more expensive, sea routes to avoid entering British waters, or risk interception. 

Already this year, the navy helped the US in the seizure of one Russian tanker and France in the capture of another.

The moves will doubtless strengthen Russian perceptions that Britain is their most aggressive adversary in Europe.