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The Kremlin said on Thursday that Moscow would look into its legal options and employ them to the fullest extent if Russian crude oil from a tanker seized by Britain this month is sold.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said Britain could hold an auction to sell off the 100,000 tons of Russian crude oil on board the Smyrtos, a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker intercepted by British forces in the Channel on June 14.
The proceeds could be used to fund Ukraine, the paper added.
"There are certainly legal options for responding; they will be examined, and the situation will be analysed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on a conference call.
Such options would "be utilised to the fullest extent possible - both against those who make or will make such decisions, those who will sell this oil, and those who will purchase it," Peskov said, when asked to comment on the report.
"No one should have any doubt about this," he added.