On the front lines of Europe’s confrontation with Russia’s Shadow Fleet

In the western Baltic Sea, a Coast Guard officer radios a nearby authorized tanker.

“I’ve got a call from the Swedish Coast Guard… Could you please answer a few questions? I’m done.”

The crew’s answers, barely audible amidst the heavy static, gradually list the ship’s insurance information, flag state and final port of call, Suez, Egypt.

“I think this ship is going to Russia to get oil,” said Jonatan Tholin, a Swedish investigator.

This is the forefront of Europe’s uneasy standoff with Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”. It is a term commonly used to refer to hundreds of tankers used to circumvent Russian oil export price caps.

After the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy. Moscow has been accused of avoiding transporting oil on board older tankers whose ownership or insurance is unclear.

Some “shadow” vessels have also been accused of undersea vandalism, illegal drone launches or “spoofing” location data.

On the waves, where freedom of navigation is the golden rule, the ability and willingness of coastal states to intervene is limited, despite the increasing risks they face.

As the BBC has learned, a growing network of “shadow” vessels are sailing without a valid flag, leaving them stateless and leaving them without adequate insurance.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, senior marine intelligence analyst at Windward AI, said this is a troubling trend considering many are effectively “floating rust buckets.” When an accident like a multibillion-dollar oil spill occurs, “good luck finding someone responsible for paying all the costs.”

Record sanctions and tougher enforcement have led to the number of fraudulent vessels more than doubling globally this year to more than 450, most of them oil tankers, according to an International Maritime Organization (IMO) database.

The BBC has been tracking one vessel that appears to have sailed without a valid flag.

Estonian Navy Commander Admiral Ivo Värk said he had seen dozens of such vessels passing by this year, whereas previously he had only seen one or two.

Speaking in his office overlooking the Gulf of Finland, Russia’s main oil terminal at Ust-Luga and the narrow gateway to Primorsk, he said the rise was surprising.

Moreover, he suggested that it was shameless. “There is no known secret about it.”

The day I boarded the Estonian (British-made) Minehunter, which is also used on Nato’s Baltic Sentry patrols to protect critical infrastructure, I spotted the tanker Unity on the MarineTraffic app.

Unity, traveling east, is more than 100 miles away but is sailing in our direction.

The BBC has researched the history and provides insight into the mysterious life of the Shadow Ship.

Tracking data shows Unity has transited the English Channel four times in the past 12 months, including trips between Russian ports and India. Major oil customers who do not subscribe to price caps.

Originally known as Ocean Explorer, the tanker was built in 2009 and has flown the Singapore flag for over a decade.

In 2019, the vessel was named in a UN report for being involved in ship-to-ship transfers with vessels sanctioned for their role in transporting fuel to North Korea. North Korea is one of the other countries accused of using elusive shadow ships.

The ship, which operated under the name Ocean Vela until the end of 2021, adopted the flag of the Marshall Islands but was removed from that list in 2024, a registry spokeswoman said. This is because the ship’s then operator and beneficial owner company was subject to British sanctions.

The tanker appears to have three additional names (Beks Swan, March and Unity) and three additional flags (Panama, Russia and Gambia) from 2021, but will always retain its unique IMO number.

Unity claimed the Lesotho flag, which was designated “false,” according to August ship broadcast data. Lesotho is a small landlocked African territorial kingdom with no official registry, according to the IMO.

The BBC attempted to contact Unity’s listed owner, a Dubai-registered company called FMTC Ship Charter LLC, but he did not respond to emails and phone calls.

The beneficial owners of 60% of the Shadow Fleet vessels are essentially unknown, according to maritime intelligence company Windward AI.

Opaque ownership structures and frequent name or flag changes became hallmarks of the Shadow Fleet as a means of avoiding detection.

With the removal from reputable registries and the influx of lower-quality alternatives, some vessels have now reached a point where “they just don’t care at all,” says Michelle Wiese Bockmann.

Unity’s most recent trip took it through the North Sea in late October before entering the Baltic Sea and passing through countries including Sweden and Estonia, and that’s where Unity was spotted.

On November 6, the ship was anchored outside the Russian port of Ust-Luga at the time of publication.

The tanker was added to the growing list of UK and EU approved vessels earlier this year, but like many others, it continues to operate despite other challenges.

It was reported that it had been evacuated to the English Channel after suffering mechanical failure during a storm last January. The following August, it was reported that it was detained in a Russian port due to technical problems and non-payment of wages.

Unity is just one of hundreds of ships subject to a ban on UK and EU services and ports as London and Brussels attempt to step up pressure on the Kremlin.

Nevertheless, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia’s revenue from the sale of crude oil and petroleum products reached $13.1 billion (£9.95 billion) in October alone. This is a decrease of $2.3 billion compared to the same period last year.

An analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that sanctioned or suspected “shadow” tankers account for 62% of Russia’s crude oil exports, with China and India being the biggest customers for the crude, followed by Turkey and the European Union.

While politicians talk about strengthening action, Navy and Coast Guard officers point out that the further out to sea the less capable the nation is of action.

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

Countries including France, Finland and Estonia have detained ships and can detain them if they suspect wrongdoing, but such drastic controls are relatively rare.

“There are complexities associated with it,” claims Admiral Ivo Värk. “With the Russian presence next to our border, the risk of escalation is too high to do so on a regular basis.”

Estonians speak from experience.

Admiral Värk said Russia briefly deployed fighter jets last May when it attempted to intercept an unflag-free tanker and has “continuously” deployed about two naval ships in the Gulf of Finland since then.

If a more aggressive approach is taken, fears of escalation are accompanied by widespread concerns about commercial retaliation.

“Suspicious activity occurs every day in the Baltic Sea,” a NATO official told the BBC on condition of anonymity. Nevertheless, the official added, “We don’t want to be cowboys and board the ship. The act of monitoring the ship itself becomes a deterrent.”

“Freedom of navigation is the lifeblood of our entire economy.”

Back on the bridge of the Swedish Coast Guard vessel, the radio call with the authorized tanker was concluded.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the officer said as the vessel continued towards Russia.

The conversation lasted about 5 minutes.

“You need to look at it from a bigger perspective,” says investigator Jonatan Thorin, when suggested that the move does not seem simple. “This information could be used for maritime surveillance.”

But while Europe tightened checks and monitored the waves, Windward’s Michelle Wiese Bockmann spied something else. “Through the sanctions-circumvention tactics of these ships, we literally see the international rules-based order unravel.”

She said the environment and security are at a lot of risk, while at the same time “the armada of darkness is getting darker and darker.”

The BBC has approached the Russian Embassy in London for comment. In response, the spokesperson said the West’s “anti-Russian sanctions” were “illegal” and “undermine established principles of global trade.”

“It is discriminatory and misleading to label vessels used to export Russian oil as ‘shadow fleet’,” the embassy said, noting that cases of incorrect flags usually result in “easily resolved” problems such as administrative delays.

The spokesperson said it was the sanctioning countries that had “elevated” the risk “by forcing shipowners and operators to navigate an increasingly fragmented and restrictive regulatory environment”.

Additional reporting by Adrienne Murray, Michael Steininger and Ali Zaidi