Figures obtained by The i Paper show that white fish caught by Russia’s vast fishing fleet, and worth an estimated £100m, is being shipped to Britain via third countries, including China and the Netherlands.
Major retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury’s have stopped direct purchases of Russian fish and are working to remove Russian-origin products from their supply chains. However, industry sources say the influx of Russian fish supplied indirectly is being tolerated by processors because of a lack of alternative supplies.
Direct imports to the UK of fish such as cod and haddock caught by Russian vessels have consequently dropped dramatically, from 16,000 tonnes, worth £85m, in the year prior to the invasion to just 168 tonnes, worth £400,000, last year.
Russian seafood companies appear to be either absorbing the cost of the swingeing import duties by exporting to the UK via the Netherlands, or avoiding tariffs altogether by exploiting trade rules that allow the country of origin of fish to be changed if it undergoes “substantial processing”.
Despite an abundance of fish species in UK waters, Britons overwhelmingly consume just five types of seafood – cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawn. These “big five” account for 80 per cent of all seafood eaten in Britain, with the vast majority of cod and haddock sourced from beyond the UK.
Figures obtained by The i Paper from Seafish, the public body providing research and support for the UK seafood sector, show that the amount of Russian fish entering the UK from the Netherlands has more than doubled since 2022, to 8,961 tonnes last year, representing a value of £38.2m. In 2023, the trade was even more valuable, securing exports worth nearly £50m.
Russian fish is entering the UK after first being sent to countries such as China and the Netherlands
Industry sources told The i Paper that vast amounts of Russian white fish, including cod, haddock and pollock, is being sent to China to be turned into frozen fillets or other processed products. According to one estimate, Russia exported 1.3m tonnes of fish to China in 2023 – an increase of more than 36 per cent since 2021.
A senior UK fishing industry source said: “There can be little doubt that what the Russians used to send to us directly is now arriving disguised as fish from other countries. It’s perfectly possible we are actually eating more Russian fish than ever before.”
A UK industry source said the value of Russian-origin pollock reaching the UK, where the species is mostly used for frozen breaded fish products, is likely to be at least £70m.
A spokesman for UK Fisheries Ltd, which operates Britain’s most advanced freezer trawler, the Kirkella, said: “At a time of increased food insecurity, it’s outrageous that the Russians should have free rein to circumvent import controls using an obvious loophole in the system.
“It’s well known in the industry that imports from China are really Russian in origin, meaning that profits generated through sales in our chippies and other outlets are indirectly funding Putin’s war machine.”
Russian fillets are being re-routed via China and the Netherlands and sold in British fish and chip shops
In a statement, the Russian embassy in London said “the British market and ordinary people” were paying raised prices for fish as a result of the tariff regime. Other argue that it is increased energy and labour costs, as well as quota restrictions, which are causing increased prices.
A spokesperson said: “The UK’s support for Ukraine is ironclad and we will continue to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible. The UK’s 35 per cent tariffs on Russian imports apply to Russian origin fish and our sanctions have led to a significant fall in Russian imports. We have been clear that seafood processors should remove Russian fish from their supply chains.”
Most major supermarkets, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons, have said they stopped any direct purchases of Russian fish shortly after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and have or are working to eliminate any Russian-origin fish from their supply chains.
Fishing trawlers moored in Murmansk, home to a significant proportion of the Russian fishing fleet (Photo: Dario Thuburn/AFP)
The UK Seafood Federation, which represents fish processors and traders, declined to comment. But one UK fish processor told The i Paper there are currently no readily available substitutes for Russian white fish supplies at a time when cod stocks are once again under pressure.
Ukraine urges tougher action
Other observers, however, including the Ukrainian authorities, argue more should be done to restrict the ability of Russian producers to sell into the UK.
square UKRAINE Ukraine accuses Russia of attacking its own gas pipeline to 'mislead' the world
Read More
The Ukrainian diplomatic source added: “It should not be the case that the food being served in British pubs and homes is providing revenues for the Russian government, revenues which self-evidently fund Putin’s war.”
The Silver Sea shipping group, which is based in Bergen, makes regular deliveries of Russian-caught fish to Dutch ports and recently hit the headlines after one of its vessels – the Silver Dania – was briefly detained following alleged damage to a subsea cable in the Baltic Sea. The ship, which had a Russian crew, was released after officials said there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
For its part, there is frustration within the UK fishing industry that the autonomy promised by Brexit has failed to result in any increase in the whitefish quotas for British vessels which could reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, including those from Russia. The UK quota for cod in the Barents Sea has fallen dramatically from 18,287 tonnes in 2019 to 4,075 tonnes in 2025.
The Russian embassy in London claimed that “ordinary people” in Britain were paying the price for restrictions on whitefish imports and acknowledged that the country’s fishing industry had “swiftly pivoted” to other markets “primarily in Asia”. In a statement, the embassy said: “We would like to stress that sanctions are not an effective instrument of political pressure.”
How Cold War spy trawlers are being resurrected by Moscow
It was a feature of the Cold War that both Nato and the Soviet Union repurposed fishing vessels to act as clandestine tools for espionage and other quasi-military activity. For Russia at least, it seems the idea is back in vogue.
Western intelligence services, including those of the UK, are tracking a rise in suspicious activity by Russian trawlers in the seas of northern Europe amid a consensus that Moscow is conducting an increasingly hostile campaign of surveillance and sabotage against subsea infrastructure.
Just as the Soviet Union deployed fishing boats to track Nato submarines and weapons systems – using the vessels’ heavily insulated freezer compartments to conceal electronic listening gear – so it is believed that Russian spooks are using trawlers to once again prowl the Baltic, North Sea and North Atlantic with ill-intent.
Last summer the Dutch authorities banned Russian fishing vessels from entering the port of Eemshaven, in the north of the Netherlands, after registering what they said was suspicious activity near an adjoining military facility and a hub for 11 transatlantic data cables.
The Belgian and Swedish security services have also publicly raised the alarm about non-military Russian vessels sailing through their territorial waters to conduct suspected maritime espionage activities.
Describing the tell-tale signs of Russian spy trawlers, one Swedish commander said: “We find antennas and masts that do not belong to a fishing vessel.”
Suspicious Russian fishing craft have also been spotted in UK waters, with one Scottish captain last year reporting seeing an armed man on board one Russian trawler.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How your fish and chips could be ‘funding Putin’s war’ )
Also on site :