On the front lines of Europe’s standoff with Russia’s shadow fleet

In the western Baltic Sea, a coast guard officer radioed a nearby sanctioned oil tanker.

“The Swedish Coast Guard called… Would you agree to answer a few questions for us? Over.”

Over the heavy static came a barely audible response from a crew member, who gradually listed the ship’s insurance details, flag state and last port of call, Suez, Egypt.

“I think the ship was going to Russia and getting oil,” said Swedish investigator Jonatan Tolin.

This is the front line in Europe’s tense standoff with Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”; a term commonly used to refer to the hundreds of tankers used to get around Russia’s oil export price caps.

Many Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russian energy following the Kremlin’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has been accused of evading sanctions by transporting oil in aging tankers with unclear ownership or insurance.

Some “shadow” vessels are even implicated in undersea sabotage, illegal drone launches or “spoofing” of their location data.

At sea, freedom of navigation is the golden rule, and coastal states have limited ability and willingness to intervene, even as the risks they face are escalating.

The BBC understands that a growing network of “shadow” ships are sailing without a valid flag, which can leave ships stateless and without appropriate insurance.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI, said it’s a troubling trend because many are effectively “floating rust buckets.” If an incident occurs, such as a multibillion-dollar oil spill, “good luck finding the person responsible for any costs.”

Driven by record sanctions and tougher enforcement, the number of ships flying false flags worldwide has more than doubled this year to more than 450, the majority of them oil tankers, an International Maritime Organization (IMO) database shows.

The BBC has been tracking a vessel that appears to be sailing without a valid flag.

Commodore Ivo Valk, commander of the Estonian Navy, said they have seen dozens of such ships passing by this year, compared with only one or two in the past.

The rise is alarming, he told me when we spoke in his office overlooking the Gulf of Finland, the narrow gateway to Russia’s main oil terminals Ust-Luga and Primorsk.

What’s more, he says, it’s shameless: “There’s no secret about it.”

We discovered the tanker Unity on the MarineTraffic app, and that day we boarded an Estonian (British-made) minehunter, which is also used in NATO’s Baltic Sentinel patrols to protect critical infrastructure.

Heading east, Unity was over 100 miles away but heading in our direction.

The BBC investigates its history and provides illuminating insights into the mysterious life of the shadow ship.

Tracking data shows Unity has crossed the English Channel four times in the past 12 months, including on voyages between Russian ports and India; major oil customers have yet to sign up to price caps.

The tanker, originally known as the Ocean Explorer, was built in 2009 and has flown the Singapore flag for more than a decade.

Back in 2019, it was named in a UN report for its alleged involvement in a ship-to-ship transfer on a vessel sanctioned for transporting fuel to North Korea – The United States and other countries have also been accused of exploiting the elusive shadow ships.

A spokesperson for the registry tells us that the vessel (which operated under the name Ocean Vela that year) was Marshall Islands-flagged by the end of 2021, but was removed from the list in 2024 because the vessel’s then operator and beneficial owner were subject to UK sanctions.

Since 2021, the tanker appears to have had three more names (Beks Swan, March and Unity) and three more flags (Panamanian, Russian and Gambian), but has always retained a unique IMO number.

In August, ship broadcast data showed Unity claimed to own the Lesotho flag, which was designated “false.” Lesotho is a small, landlocked African kingdom that has no official registry, according to the International Maritime Organization.

The BBC attempted to contact Unity’s listed owner, a Dubai-registered company called FMTC Ship Charter LLCbut our emails and phone calls went unanswered.

According to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI, the beneficial owners of 60% of the shadow fleet remain largely unknown.

Opaque ownership structures — and frequent name or flag changes — have become a signature feature of Shadow Fleet as a means of avoiding detection.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann said some ships had been purged from reputable registries and bypassed the loss of inferior substitutes, now to the point of being “simply ignored”.

Unity’s most recent voyage was in late October through the North Sea, then into the Baltic Sea and passing through countries including Sweden and Estonia – where we found it.

On November 6, the ship was anchored outside the Russian port of Ust-Luga and was still anchored there as of press time.

The tanker was added to the UK and EU’s growing lists of sanctioned vessels earlier this year, but like many others it has continued to operate despite other difficulties.

In January, it reportedly took shelter in the English Channel after suffering mechanical problems during a storm. According to reports, in August of the following year detained at Russian ports due to technical problems and unpaid wages.

Unity is just one of hundreds of regulated vessels UK and EU services and port bans Both London and Brussels are trying to increase pressure on the Kremlin.

Still, Russia’s revenue from sales of crude oil and petroleum products reached $13.1 billion (£9.95 billion) in October alone, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), although that was down $2.3 billion from the same period last year.

Analysis by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research Discover “Shadow” tankers subject to sanctions or suspicion account for 62% of Russia’s total crude exports, while China and India are by far the largest crude customers, followed by Turkey and the European Union itself.

Although politicians talk about tough actionNavy and Coast Guard officials noted that the further a country travels to sea, the less capable it is to operate.

The right of innocent passage remains a cornerstone of maritime law, but technically stateless vessels are not entitled to it.

Countries such as France, Finland and Estonia have seized ships and can do so if crimes are suspected, but such heavy-handed control remains a relatively rare event.

“There are complexities,” said Brigadier General Ivo Värk. “With Russia’s presence near our borders, the risk of escalation is too high to occur on a regular basis.”

Estonians speak from experience.

Commodore Valcke said Russia briefly deployed a fighter jet when they tried to intercept an unflagged oil tanker in May and has since deployed about two dozen naval ships “constantly” in the Gulf of Finland.

Fears of escalation coexist with broader concerns about commercial reprisals if a more aggressive approach is taken.

An unnamed NATO official told the BBC: “There is suspicious activity every day in the Baltic region.” Still, the official added, “We don’t want to be cowboys and jump on board. The very act of monitoring ships is a deterrent.”

“Freedom of navigation is the lifeblood of all our economies.”

Back on the bridge of the Swedish Coast Guard ship, the radio call with the sanctioned tanker has ended.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the official said as the ship continued toward Russia.

The exchange lasted just over five minutes.

“You need to look at the bigger picture,” said investigator Jonatan Tolin, when I suggested that these measures didn’t seem strong enough. “This information can be used in our maritime surveillance.”

But as Europe steps up inspections and watches the waves, Windward’s Michelle Wiese Bockmann sees something else: “You can really see the international rules-based order breaking down through these ships’ tactics to circumvent sanctions.”

She said there were significant risks to the environment and safety, while “the dark fleet is getting darker”.

The BBC contacted the Russian Embassy in London for comment. A spokesperson responded by saying that the West’s “anti-Russian sanctions” were “illegal” and “undermined the established principles of global commerce.”

“Labeling vessels used to export Russian oil as a ‘shadow fleet’ is discriminatory and misleading,” the embassy said. Invalid flag situations are often attributed to “easily solvable” issues such as administrative delays.

The spokesman said the risk was “exacerbated” by sanctioning countries “forcing shipowners and operators to deal with an increasingly fragmented and restrictive regulatory environment”.

Additional reporting by Adrienne Murray, Michael Steininger and Ali Zaidi