How to fight against the Russian "shadow fleet"?

 

After launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia is beefing up its "shadow fleet" to continue oil trade and avoid international sanctions. In particular, Western countries prohibit oil market participants from buying Russian oil above the price ceiling of $60 per barrel. Offenders are prohibited from using the services of major Western insurance companies. As a result, oil carriers operating with a "shadow fleet" use dubious insurance services from Russia or operate without insurance services at all. As a rule, such tankers sail under the flags of countries that do not respect international maritime rules. Their owners are usually fake companies that change quickly to avoid responsibility.

The tightening of sanctions on Russia is having an impact, and Chinese companies have begun to reduce their imports of Russian crude this year, a March study by Vortex shows. However, traders are finding loopholes: Russian oil is being transferred from one tanker to another, changing documents and "losing" the origin of the cargo in the supply chain. Earlier, researchers noted that the "shadow fleet" of the Russian Federation may include at least 1,089 tankers - 75 percent of the entire non-transparent market. Identifying this fleet is not so easy, because tanker crews practice turning off their transponders or sending false coordinates, disguising their real route. Such manipulations increase the risks of environmental disasters: uncertified tankers, often with minimal maintenance, threaten to cause oil spills in international waters, environmentalists warn. DW asked experts how the world community is fighting the "shadow fleet" and what could happen in the event of a disaster.

 

How many tankers are under sanctions?

 

As of February 2025, 153 tankers were under sanctions by the European Union, 133 by the United Kingdom, and 183 by the United States. The United States, led by Donald Trump, rejected a Canadian proposal to create a working group to monitor violations of sanctions. A significant number of ships transporting Russian oil and oil products remain off the existing lists, investigators say. One of them is the tanker FIRN. The vessel attracted attention due to its possible participation in the transport of fuel oil as part of the "shadow fleet". At that time, two Volgonjeft-type tankers were found in the Kerch Strait due to a storm.

The FIRN tanker, which was available, was waiting for fuel oil, says Evgenia Simonov, an ecologist and expert at the international environmental organization UWEC. The expert assumes that the cargo was planned to be delivered to one of the Indian refineries. However, a storm in the Black Sea and the resulting disaster resulted in these plans being thwarted. After that, the FIRN unexpectedly "moved" to the English Channel, says Simonov:

"Of course, it did not physically go there - within a week the tanker reappeared at the same point in the Kerch Strait. This is one of the technologies for hiding routes."

According to experts, after the accident, the owners could fear an international reaction and the inclusion of the vessel on sanctions lists. DW studied the sanctions registers of Western countries, but did not find this tanker in them.

 

Ecological disaster in the Baltic - a matter of time"

 

The international environmental organization Greenpeace maintains its own list of the "shadow fleet" of the Russian Federation. Until March 2025, 192 suspicious tankers were recorded on this list. Most of them sail the Baltic Sea, and the age of many ships exceeds 15 years.

These tankers are often crewed by inexperienced sailors, and the vessels are not sufficiently insured against risks such as oil spills, explains energy systems expert Henrik Wachtmeister from Uppsala University.

"The Baltic Sea is a relatively small sea with narrow navigation routes. "If nothing changes, an ecological disaster in the region is only a matter of time," Wachtmeister believes. The Greenpeace study cites the example of the 247-meter tanker Chilli, which sailed under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda. It transported crude oil from Russia via the Baltic Sea. Environmentalists are calling for an inspection of the ship: in 2023, significant corrosion was found on its hull, and in March 2024, six defects were discovered, including engine problems. The UK imposed sanctions on the tanker at the end of 2024, but as the MarineTraffic service shows, it is still sailing at sea. The ship changed its name to Peace and now sails under the flag of Sierra Leone. In late February, the tanker was in Russian territorial waters, then sailed to the Finnish port of Kotka, and then headed to the Egyptian port of Said.

 

Who is responsible for the oil spill?

 

"Before the war, the Russian transport market was controlled by large companies that had new tankers and a developed security system," says Simonov.

However, the sanctions changed the structure of oil exports, and the development of the Russian Federation's "shadow fleet" worsened the environmental situation. The greatest damage is caused by imperceptible leaks during the transfer of oil from ship to ship and other operations on the water, he notes. According to the expert, it is difficult to bring carriers to justice, because in the event of a major oil spill and lack of insurance, it will be difficult to determine who is responsible.

"The main risks exist for ports that receive such ships, but they mostly spill in neutral waters," says Simonov.

This is particularly relevant given that one of the most common "shadow fleet" cargoes is fuel oil. Liquidation of its spills requires a long time and significant costs. One example is the disaster of the Russian tanker "Volgonjeft" in the Black Sea, adds the environmentalist.

 

How to fight the "shadow fleet"?

 

Currently, there are no mechanisms to counter the Russian Federation's "shadow fleet" that would not violate international law, Wachtmeister says. Moreover, harsh measures may lead to further escalation on the Russian side. In his opinion, an effective step could be a mandatory insurance inspection for tankers.

"If a ship cannot provide proof of reliable insurance, it should be banned from transiting the Baltic."

In combination with EU and US sanctions, this could create an efficient control system, he believes.

Simonov, for his part, believes that the effectiveness of sanctions depends on political will. As an example, he cites the decision of the International Maritime Organization, which in 2023 introduced strict restrictions on the transport of fuel oil in the Arctic.

"If similar measures were extended to other regions, traffic safety control would become more efficient. But if the biggest players do not have the political will, the sanctions will not bring results," concludes Simonov.