Russia’s shadow fleet continues to sail

The French navy seized the sanctioned crude oil tanker Deliver in the Mediterranean on June 23. This marks the latest in an increasingly frequent series of enforcement measures by European countries against Russia’s shadow fleet.

Boardings have a legitimate legal basis, but Russian officials characterize them as piracy and dispute the existence of a “shadow fleet.” At the same time, Russia is accepting more of these ships onto its registry.

As sanctions put pressure on traditional “flag of convenience” countries to expel these ships from their registries, more shadow fleet vessels are registering under the Russian flag. This lets these ships avoid interdiction, but exposes Russia to more direct responsibility for the fleet and takes away deniability.

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