Russian Shadow Fleet

The Russian shadow fleet is a fleet of hundreds of vessels operated by Russia to evade policing following the enaction of the 2022 Russian crude oil price cap sanctions enacted by the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union in response to Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Background

''Shadow'' or ''grey'' or ''dark'' fleets already existed, used by Iran and Venezuela to try to get around international sanctions. Russia was aware that any sanctions against their country would result in a need to control tankers to export crude and processed oil. Tankers approaching their end of life span were purchased by Russia, Russian oil companies or opportunists who could then rent them out for a large fee to maintain the flow of oil exports. The price of old tankers rose, with vendors making large profits from their sales. By the end of 2022 there were over 600 ships in the shadow fleet, 400 of which were crude oil tankers. Since then the numbers have increased with estimates of 1,100 to 1,400 ships by December 2023. Only 118 of them have been sanctioned by the United States, European Union, or United Kingdom with only three sanctioned by all three according to the Kyiv School of Economics.

A major problem with the Russian shadow fleet is insurance; Western countries have minimum criteria for insurance, which includes verification of the condition of the ship. Two thirds of ships carrying Russian oil have "unknown" insurers. The ships are generally old and more prone to breakdown or leakage. in January 2024 the 18 year old sanctioned ''Peria'' had an anchor malfunction, leaving the ship stranded in the Bosphorus, closing all traffic. Shadow ship owners disguise the true owners and do not feel obliged to maintain the ships to a high standard. Turning off automatic identification systems and undertaking open sea ship to ship transfers of oil increase risks of collisions and spillages.

Certain flags of convenience are favored. Gabon has more than doubled its ships registry in 2023 with an estimated 98% of tankers considered high risk with no identifiable owner. The number of incidents affecting these tankers has increased to around two a month, with groundings, collisions, fire and engine failures, recovering the cost of rescuing these ships is doubtful due to the unknown owner and the unknown insurance, if any.

Maritime incidents

Multiple vessels which had recently called at Russian ports have been attacked with limpet mines or underwater explosives in the Mediterranean, many operated by Athens-based shipping company Thenamaris.

A report from the security company Ambrey concludes that the attacks were perpetrated by "an unnamed state actor targeting ships calling at oil ports" likely using limpet mines with delay action planted by divers using small submarines. Two vessels were sunk, the 9500 ton freighter ''Ursa Major'' off Spain on 24 December 2024 and the 164000 ton super tanker ''Koala'' while moored at Ust-Luga, Leningrad Oblast, on 9 February 2025 and three others, ''Seajewel'', ''Seacharm'' and ''Grace Ferrum'' were damaged.

On 11 April 2025, the Estonian Navy minehunter EML ''Admiral Cowan'' seized a flagless tanker pretending to be registered in Djibouti, the ''Kiwala'', in the Baltic Sea. The vessel had been sanctioned by the EU and the UK, and was on its way to load oil in Ust-Luga. The ''Kiwala'' was released on 28 April.

On 13 May 2025, the Estonian Navy's patrol vessel EML ''Raju'' escorted the Gabonese-flagged tanker ''Jaguar'' out of Estonia's territorial waters, supported by AugustaWestland AW139 helicopters, M-28 Skytruck aircraft and a Polish MiG 29. A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter violated Estonia´s airspace the same day. Portuguese F-16s from NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission responded to the incident with a reconnaissance flight.

On 21 May 2025, a shadow fleet tanker, the ''Sun'', waving the Antiguay Barbuda flag, was spotted sailing around an undersea 600-megawatt power line linking Sweden and Poland. The vessel was scared off by a Polish aerial patrol, and later the area was sweeped by the Polish research ship ORP ''Heweliusz''.

Sanctioning vessels and associated companies for breaches

Vessels, their owners and associated companies involved in breaches of the sanctions are from autumn 2023 being investigated and sanctioned. On 10 January 2025, the U.S. Dept of the Treasury added about 180 vessels, scores of traders, major oil companies and senior Russian oil executives to the sanctioned list.

Crude oil tankers and owners sanctioned for breaches

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the following crude oil ships and their owners for breaches of the crude oil sanctions:

Finnish Customs said the tanker '' Eagle S'' is part of the shadow fleet after Finnish authorities launched an investigation into its potential sabotage of the underwater power cables between Estonia and Finland in the 2024 Estlink 2 incident. The vessel was seized by Finnish authorities in the aftermath as the Estonian Navy launched an operation to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

Oil traders

On 20 December 2023 the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against three companies that have traded Russian oil that had been sold at a price that did not comply with the price cap rules, including ''Voliton DMCC'' from the UAE and ''Bellatrix Energy Limited'' and ''Covart Energy Limited'' of Hong Kong. Covart owns oil products tanker ''Sanar 15'' (IMO 9777670) which is also sanctioned.

Insurance of tankers

Suspected breaches of sanctions by insurance companies are investigated. Sometimes the insurance company is provided with false information regarding the source of the cargo, its price, the destination, and even the ships name and IMO number when an application for insurance is made.

Insurance company Ro Marine, based in Oslo, Norway, cancelled insurance on three tankers in December 2023, identified as non-compliant with oil price cap or dark trading allegations and is monitoring seven more. Fake insurance documents from Ro Marine have been used to deceive NATO countries and support Russia's shadow fleet, which transports oil in violation of sanctions. Following exposés by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and Danish Danwatch, flag states have detained ships and revoked Ro Marine's approval, while NATO tightens controls and police investigate the company.

Reactions

The European Union published a brief titled "Russia's 'shadow fleet': Bringing the threat to light", in October 2024, outlining Russia's tactics to evade sanctions. On 14 November, the EU voted to adopt a resolution ensuring full enforcement of sanctions against Russia.

Two boats believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet caused an oil spill with severe environmental damage in the Black Sea in December 2024 due to the negligence by their Russian operators. Following the major environmental crisis caused by the ships, the worst this century in the Black Sea region, Ukraine called for the international community to take action to deter the fleet. Latvia also called for the ships to be banned from EU territorial waters.

On 16 December 2024, twelve countries consisting of Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) and the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) agreed to cooperate to "disrupt and deter" Russia's shadow fleet to prevent sanctions breaches. The UK announced additional sanctions against the shadow fleet the following day.

In January 2025 the tanker ''Eventin'', under the flag of Panama, left the Russian port Ust-Luga heading for Egypt. The ship lost engine power and drifted into German waters a few days later. It was put on a list of sanctioned ships by the European Union in February. After determining that the ''Eventin'' carried some 100,000 tons of sanctioned crude oil from Russia, German customs seized the ship and confiscated the cargo in an unprecedented step in March 2025, theoretically transferring the ownership to the German state.{{Cite web , last=Staib , first=Julian , date=21 March 2025 , title=Zoll beschlagnahmt Tanker der russischen Schattenflotte , url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/russlands-schattenflotte-zoll-beschlagnahmt-tanker-110371513.html , access-date=21 March 2025 , website=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , language=de , url-status=live

References

Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
International trade
Maritime transport