{"id":5656,"date":"2025-12-21T11:39:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T11:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5656"},"modified":"2025-12-21T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T11:39:20","slug":"alarm-over-exploding-rise-in-use-of-sanctions-busting-shadow-fleet-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=5656","title":{"rendered":"Alarm over \u2018exploding\u2019 rise in use of sanctions-busting shadow fleet | Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The \u201cshadow fleet\u201d used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela<\/a> to avoid western sanctions and ship cargo to customers including China and India is \u201cexploding\u201d in its scale and scope, and there are concerns that efforts to counter it are drawing closer to dangerous military confrontations.<\/p>\n

Complicating the issue is that Russia has begun putting its own flag on some former shadow fleet tankers, in an open challenge to Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The constellation of ageing oil tankers \u2013 under opaque ownership and questionable flagging \u2013 has become the focus of rising international attention this year. There have been maritime interdictions to enforce sanctions, and the recently announced US blockade of sanctions-busting ships in Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month US special forces rappelled from helicopters to board the Skipper<\/a>,<\/em> a tanker off Venezuela that the US treasury had placed under sanctions in 2022 amid allegations it had been smuggling oil on behalf of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

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Loop of US special forces boarding a tanker off Venezuela<\/a>
<\/svg><\/span>Footage shows US special forces boarding a tanker off Venezuela<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Map of tankers around Venezuela<\/a><\/figure>\n

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On Saturday US forces apprehended a second merchant vessel<\/a> carrying oil off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, even though it does not appear to be on the list of vessels under US sanctions.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>A US military helicopter flies over a Panama-flagged ship.<\/span> Photograph: Department of Homeland Security\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The US seizures follow incidents this year where Estonia and France interdicted vessels suspected of belonging to Russia\u2019s shadow fleet<\/a>, and recent attacks by Ukrainian air and sea drones on Russian shadow tankers accused of being involved in sanctions evasion.<\/p>\n

The increasingly aggressive efforts to police the shadow fleet and evidence that Russia<\/a> is willing to use military assets to protect tankers, has led experts to warn of the risk of confrontation.<\/p>\n

That was dramatically underlined on Friday when Ukraine announced it had struck a Russian tanker with aerial drones<\/a> in neutral waters off the coast of Libya, after previous similar attacks in the Black Sea.<\/p>\n

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine<\/a> said it was a \u201cnew, unprecedented special operation\u201d, Kyiv\u2019s first attack on a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean, carried out 1,200 miles (2,000km) from Ukraine\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>The shadow fleet itself is not a new threat,\u201d said Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a research fellow at the finance and security centre at the Royal United Services Institute. \u201cBut [it] has expanded drastically after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That saw what we call the shadow fleet explode to some 900-1,200 vessels globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not highly structured or homogeneous. These are vessels that Russian interests are able to purchase secondhand, opaquely owned tankers or owned by companies prepared to engage in illicit activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Map of \u2018shadow fleet\u2019 tankers attacked by Ukraine<\/a><\/figure>\n

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The shadow fleet has spawned a whole illicit network to support it, including a recent proliferation of fake flag registration websites, unscrupulous brokers and a cast of opaque companies that will facilitate the trade.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The vessel Boracay, off the coast of Saint-Nazaire in France.<\/span> Photograph: St\u00e9phane Mah\u00e9\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tanker Boracay, which was interdicted by Estonia and France earlier this year, is a case in point.<\/p>\n

It was acquired in 2020 by a so-called brass plate company<\/a> \u2013 meaning one that exists in name only \u2013 in Seychelles called Baaj Shipping. It was blacklisted by both the UK and EU for its suspected links to transporting Russian oil products, \u201cirregular and high-risk shipping practices\u201d and allegations of operating under a fraudulent Benin flag listing, following several other false flag listings in Gambia and Malawi.<\/p>\n

According to Lloyd\u2019s List, the ship \u2013 a \u201ctextbook example of deceptive shipping practices\u201d \u2013 had also been investigated by Denmark\u2019s intelligence services over its possible use to launch drones against Copenhagen\u2019s airport, while operating under a different name. The ship had itself allegedly been targeted at one point with a limpet mine.<\/p>\n

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Map of Boracay\u2019s sailing route<\/a><\/figure>\n

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Countries that have sought to counter the shadow fleet are forced to rely on international laws and conventions over seaworthiness, insurance and safe navigation practises to put pressure on the vessels.<\/p>\n

But an increasing international appetite for enforcement \u2013 including the Trump administration\u2019s announcement in December that it would enforce a blockade against ships under sanctions visiting Venezuela \u2013 has brought it own risks.<\/p>\n

It is not only Washington that has indicated it is prepared to intercept shadow fleet tankers. In October, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, signalled a greater willingness from Europeans to tackle vessels in its waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have decided to take a step forward by adopting policies to impede suspicious ships,\u201d said Macron at a meeting in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

The risks implied in such a policy were underlined by an incident involving an oil tanker known in quick succession as Jaguar, Blint and then finally as the Russian-flagged Nasledie. An attempt by the Estonian navy to intercept the vessel in the Gulf of Finland in May prompted an incursion by a Russian Su-35 jet into Estonian airspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Erausquin that suggests a more direct interest from the Kremlin in the shadow fleet, as demonstrated by Russia\u2019s willingness to protect it.<\/p>\n

As Chris Kremidas-Courtney, a senior fellow at the European Policy Centre argued in November, the shadow fleet poses greater threats than its key role in economically sustaining Russia\u2019s war effort in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Kremidas-Courtney said: \u201c<\/em>Recent incidents underscore this threat. Russia-linked vessels have been implicated in drone incursions, cable disruptions and reconnaissance of critical infrastructure. The Eagle S [a suspected shadow tanker] severed undersea cables after cycling through multiple flags<\/a>, and Estonia\u2019s attempted interdiction of the Jaguar crude oil tanker prompted the scrambling of Russian fighter jets \u2013 proof that Moscow sees this fleet as a strategic asset and is willing to protect it. Europe cannot afford to let these incidents pass unanswered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the tougher language from Europe, including discussion of seeking permission to board suspect tankers, some analysts do not detect a huge appetite for maritime confrontation with Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>It is one thing for the US to board a sanctioned and stateless tanker off Venezuela because what is Venezuela going to do?\u201d said one. \u201cIt feels like a very different calculation for the Europeans with Russia. It risks upping the stakes in what has become a game of chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the shadow fleet, in particular the Russian element of it, has flourished in the past three years, it is partly due to US resistance to imposing sanctions on the major Russian oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, and through the continued reliance of China and India on Russian oil.<\/p>\n

Russia has moved quickly to try and evade the new US sanctions, with several new companies emerging who are suspected of exporting Rosneft and Lukoil crude.<\/p>\n

Despite the recent US sanctions, one of Russia\u2019s most important markets for its crude appears to have been largely unaffected, despite pressure from Trump: Indian imports of Russian crude have increased since October.<\/p>\n

In part that has been because of both Russia\u2019s adaptability to sanctions over the past three years and the complex structuring of its shadow fleet operations, mirrored by similar activities over the years by Iran and Venezuela.<\/p>\n

How Russia has operated in recent years was made clear this month in new EU sanctions announced against nine businessmen and entities, including shipping companies based in the UAE and Vietnam as well as Russia, accused of involvement in the shadow fleet.<\/p>\n

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Map of UAE-owned tankers named in EU sanction as \u2018shadow fleet\u2019 vessels<\/a><\/figure>\n

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Tomer Raanan, a specialist reporter for Lloyd\u2019s List who closely follows developments in the shadow fleet both in the trade in Iranian energy products and Russia, believes it remains attractive to ship owners because of the potential profits that can be earned operating the sometimes dilapidated ships.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this year, we noticed several sanctioned tankers suddenly began broadcasting AIS messages indicating that they are registered with Malawi.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>We found a website purporting to be the Malawi Maritime Administration which did not have a Malawi government domain and was later confirmed by Malawi officials as fraudulent. Since then, Lloyd\u2019s List has uncovered an elaborate fraudulent flag operation linking over 20 separate fake registry websites, many of which using the same holding text.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such \u201cscam\u201d registrations were being used by ships in the shadow fleet, he said.<\/p>\n

Raanan also believes the proliferation of fraudulent flags and falsely flagged ships highlights a critical problem with the shipping industry\u2019s registry system.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he expects the sanction-busting trade in oil to continue despite the efforts to police it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctioned oil is often sold at a discount, while shipowners moving these cargoes typically earn premiums for taking on the risk. I think that as long as market participants view the economic incentives as outweighing the risks, sanctions evasion will likely continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Alarm #exploding #rise #sanctionsbusting #shadow #fleet #Russia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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