On the front line of the European confrontation with the Russian Shadow Fleet

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

“Swedish Coast Guard contact… Would you agree to answer some questions for us? Over.”

Through steady, heavy, inaudible answers comes a crew member, who gradually lists the ship’s insurance details, flag country and last port of call – Suez, Egypt.

Swedish investigator Jonathan Thulin says: “I think this ship will go to Russia to get oil.”

This is the front line of the unstable confrontation between Europe and Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.” It is a term that usually refers to the hundreds of tankers used to exceed the maximum price for Russian oil exports.

After the Kremlin launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine, several Western countries imposed sanctions on the Russian energy sector, which Moscow accuses of evading by shipping oil on often old tankers with ambiguous ownership or insurance.

Some “shadow” ships are even suspected of carrying out undersea sabotage, launching illegal drones, or “spoofing” their location data.

At sea, where freedom of navigation is a golden rule, the ability and appetite of coastal countries to intervene is limited, despite the mounting risks they face.

As the BBC has learned, a growing network of “shadow” ships are sailing without a valid national flag, which can render the vessels stateless and without proper insurance.

That’s a troubling trend, given that many of them are “floating rust buckets,” says Michelle Weese-Bockman, senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI. If an accident occurs, such as a billion-dollar oil spill, “good luck trying to find someone responsible to bear any cost.”

Because of record penalties and stricter enforcement, the number of ships carrying false flags globally has doubled this year to more than 450, most of them tankers, according to the International Maritime Organization’s database.

The BBC was tracking a ship that appeared to have sailed without Saleh’s knowledge.

Estonian Navy Commander, Commodore Ivo Vark, says they have seen dozens of these ships passing by this year, when they used to see only one or two.

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

What’s more, he suggests, is rude: “There’s no secret about it.”

We discovered the tanker Unity on the MarineTraffic app, the day we boarded the Estonian Minehunter (British-built) vessel which is also used on NATO’s Baltic Sentry patrols to protect critical infrastructure.

On a trip east, the unit is over 100 miles away but sailing in our direction.

The BBC has investigated its history and provides an insight into the mysterious life of the Shadow Ship.

Tracking data shows Unity has passed through the English Channel four times in the past 12 months, including voyages between Russian ports and India; One of the major oil clients that did not sign the price cap.

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

In 2019, she was named in a UN report for her alleged involvement in a ship-to-ship transfer with a ship that had been sanctioned for its role in transporting fuel to North Korea. It is among the other nations also tasked with using elusive shadow ships.

By late 2021, the ship — which was operating that year under the name Ocean Vela — had taken the Marshall Islands flag but was delisted in 2024, a registry spokesman told us, because the ship’s then-operator and beneficial owner company had been subject to sanctions by the UK.

The tanker appears to have had three other names since 2021 (Beks Swan, March and Unity) and three other flags (Panama, Russia and Gambia) but has always maintained a unique IMO number.

In August, ship radio transmission data showed that the unit raised a Lesotho flag that was classified as “false.” Lesotho is a small, landlocked African kingdom that, according to the International Maritime Organization, has no official registry.

The BBC attempted to contact the owner of Unity, a company registered in Dubai FMTC Ship Charter LLCBut our emails and calls went unanswered.

The beneficial owners of 60% of the Shadow Fleet’s ships remain essentially unknown, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

Ambiguous ownership structures—and frequent changes of names or flags—became a hallmark of the Shadow Fleet as a means of avoiding detection.

Some ships, purged of reputable registries and weeded out of poor-quality alternatives, have now reached a point where they “don’t care at all,” says Michelle Vesey-Bockman.

Unity’s last voyage saw it sail through the North Sea in late October before entering the Baltic Sea and passing through countries including Sweden and Estonia – the point at which we spotted it.

By 6 November, it was anchored outside the Russian port of Ust-Luga where it remained at press time.

The tanker was added to the ever-growing list of ships subject to UK and EU sanctions earlier this year but, like many other vessels, continues to conduct business despite other difficulties.

Last January, she was said to have taken shelter in the English Channel after suffering mechanical failure during a storm. Reportedly the following August detained In one of the Russian ports due to technical problems and non-payment of wages.

The unit is just one of hundreds of ships subject to it Blocked service and ports in the UK and EU While London and Brussels are trying to increase pressure on the Kremlin.

However, Russian revenues from sales of crude oil and petroleum products amounted to $13.1bn (£9.95bn) in October alone, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency – although this was down by $2.3bn compared to the same month last year.

Analysis by the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research finds “Shadow” tankers, both sanctioned and suspected, account for 62% of Russian crude oil exports shipped, while China and India are by far the largest crude oil customers, followed by Turkey and the European Union itself.

While politicians Talk about toughening up the actionNavy and Coast Guard officers point out that a country’s ability to act diminishes the farther out to sea it heads.

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

Countries such as France, Finland and Estonia have detained ships, and can do so if a crime is suspected, but such strict controls remain a relatively rare event.

“There is a complexity involved,” says Commodore Ivo Farke. “With the Russian presence next to our border, the risk of escalation is too high to do this on a regular basis.”

Estonians speak from experience.

When Russia tried to intercept an unmarked oil tanker in May, Russia briefly deployed a fighter jet, and has “continuously” had about two naval ships in the Gulf of Finland since then, Commodore FARC says.

The fear of escalation is consistent with broader fears of trade retaliation if a more aggressive approach is taken.

A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC: “Every day in the Baltic region, there is suspicious activity.” The official added: “We do not want to be cowboys and jump on ships. Monitoring ships is in itself a deterrent.”

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

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

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the officer said as the ship headed toward Russia.

The exchange lasted just over five minutes.

“You have to see it from a bigger perspective,” says investigator Jonathan Thulin, when I suggest these measures seem less drastic: “This information could be used in our maritime surveillance.”

But as Europe ramps up inspections and wave monitoring, Windward’s Michele Vizy-Bockman spies something else: “You can literally see the rules-based international order collapsing through the sanctions-circumvention tactics these ships are using.”

She says there is a lot at stake for the environment and security, and at the same time “the dark fleet is getting darker.”

The BBC has contacted the Russian embassy in London for comment. In response, a spokesman said that “sanctions” imposed by the West on Russia were “illegitimate” and “undermine the established principles of global trade.”

“Flagging ships used to export Russian oil as a ‘shadow fleet’ is discriminatory and misleading,” the embassy said. Cases of invalid flags are usually due to “easily resolved” issues such as administrative delays.

The spokesman said it was the sanctions imposed on countries that had “increased” the risks by “forcing shipowners and operators to navigate an increasingly fragmented and restrictive regulatory landscape.”

Additional reporting by Adrian Murray, Michael Steininger and Ali Al-Zaidi