Russian shadow fleet

The Russian shadow fleet is a clandestine network of hundreds of vessels operated by Russia to evade sanctions, following the enactment of 2022 Russian crude oil price cap sanctions by the G7 countries and European Union (EU), in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. To circumvent these restrictions, vessels use complex ownership and corporate management structures, flags of convenience, and frequently change their names. Various tactics are also used to obscure the origin of their cargo, including ship-to-ship transshipment, disabling transponders, transmitting false data, and other deceptive or even illegal methods.

Background According to a November 2024 briefing by the European Parliamentary Research Service, the terms shadow fleet, dark fleet, and grey fleet do not have a consistent definition and are used interchangeably by journalists and politicians, making it difficult to assess the scale of the phenomenon. In December 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed on a precise definition, stating that dark fleet or shadow fleet are "ships that are engaged in illegal operations for the purposes of circumventing sanctions, evading compliance with safety or environmental regulations, avoiding insurance costs, or engaging in other illegal activities". Shadow fleets have been used by Iran and Venezuela to avoid international economic sanctions. Russia was aware that sanctions against their country would result in a need to control oil tankers to export crude and processed oil. Tankers approaching their end of life were purchased by Russia for Russian oil companies or opportunists to rent out for a large fee to maintain the flow of oil exports. The price of such old tankers rose, with vendors making large profits from their sales. By the end of 2022 there were over 600 ships in the Russian shadow fleet, 400 of which were crude oil tankers; the fleet consisted of 1,100–1,400 ships by December 2023. Of these ships, 118 have been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union (EU), or the UK. In 2025, the shadow fleet was reported as having more than tripled in size since 2022. A major issue with the Russian shadow fleet is marine 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 insurers classed as "unknown"—with the vessels therefore lacking proper insurance. Being old, they are more prone to breakdown or leakage. in January 2024 the 18-year-old sanctioned Peria became stranded because of an anchor malfunction, which caused the closure of the Bosphorus to shipping. Shadow ship operators 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 the risk of collisions and spillages. Certain flags of convenience are favored. Gabon more than doubled its ships registry in 2023, with an estimated 98% of its tankers considered to be high risk and 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. The Ukrainian government oversees a catalog of ships operating as part of the shadow fleet, listing 1337 ships as of February 2026. Various tactics are adopted to make it harder to track such vessels. These include the renaming of ships, changing their country of registration, sailing under false flags, switching off tracking signals, and broadcasting false locations. In one instance, the Arcusat, previously named the Tia, changed its IMO identification number.

Sanctioning From the autumn of 2023, companies involved in breaching the Russia Oil Price Cap Regime were investigated and sanctioned further by the U.S government. On 10 January 2025, the U.S. Dept of the Treasury added about 180 vessels, as well as traders, major oil companies, and senior Russian oil executives to the sanctioned list. In June 2025, the Australian Government placed sanctions on 60 vessels it deemed part of Russia's shadow fleet. In July 2025, the United Kingdom sanctioned 135 oil tankers, along with the Russian companies Intershipping Services LLC and Litasco Middle East DMCC. Finnish Customs declared the tanker Eagle S to be one of the shadow fleet, after an investigation was launched into the sabotage by Russia of the power cables linking Estonia and Finland. The vessel was seized by the Finns, and the Estonian Navy launched an operation to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

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