One of the most important parts of Vladimir Putin’s war machine is his “dark fleet” of illegal, unmaintained and unsafe ships, mostly tankers, which fly many flags and change names regularly. These allow him to circumvent sanctions and sell oil around the world, providing much of the revenue that supports the rickety Russian economy, overstrained by the costs of his brutal war in Ukraine. They are now also being used as motherships for drone operations over European nations.
This fleet originally emerged in response to the G7’s $60-per-barrel oil price cap which was supposed to limit oil money available to Putin’s war chest whilst keeping crude moving, thus avoiding the market fluctuations a total ban would have created. The intentions were good, but the execution was poor and the dark fleet of ships ignoring the price cap grew accordingly. It is now believed to be in excess of 1,000 ships. As a side issue, there are now 95 of these ships abandoned and drifting around the world’s oceans just waiting for disaster to strike.
Meanwhile, those still with crews are being used for imaginative grey-zone activities beyond moving sanctioned oil. Ship-to-ship transfers have been used, under cover of AIS transponder jamming and spoofing, to move more than oil. Chemicals and weapons are also on the list. The last two years have seen at least 11 undersea cables cut by dark fleet ships dragging their anchors, and other means. Disruption so far has been minimal – the undersea cable networks generally have plenty of redundancy – but it’s only a matter of time before this causes a major internet or power outage somewhere.
And now, in another grey-zone twist, it appears the dark fleet is being used to launch drones into other countries’ airspace. The latest surge in this started in Poland on September 10. Some of the twenty or so drones – these ones probably land launched rather than from ships – were shot down, some were not. By September 25, the same was happening in Denmark, forcing airports to close. There were other incidents and sightings in Norway and Romania. None of these countries wasted much time pointing the finger of blame. Why would they; it’s obvious. Some analysts, myself included, looked at the movements of the Russian navy’s Ropucha-class landing ship the Aleksandr Shabalin and it’s AIS transmissions and assessed that it was part of the delivery package also. And it wasn’t long before various dark fleet vessel movements were being scrutinised in the same manner.
The next thing we know, the tanker Boracay, has been boarded off the coast of Saint Nazaire by French special forces. As is often the case, the Benin-flagged ship has something of a record and was sanctioned back in February when she was called Kiwala. It appears that this is her fourth name since 2020 and her sixth flag over the same period. Name and flag changes are now a regular part of this irregular activity. That she isn’t insured is a given. On this voyage, she was heading from the Russian port of Primorsk towards the Indian port of Vadinar before the French boarding team rapid-roped aboard and suggested a different destination “just over there please”. She was off Denmark over the period of the drone incursions there.
One of the most important parts of Vladimir Putin’s war machine is his “dark fleet” of illegal, unmaintained and unsafe ships, mostly tankers, which fly many flags and change names regularly. These allow him to circumvent sanctions and sell oil around the world, providing much of the revenue that supports the rickety Russian economy, overstrained by the costs of his brutal war in Ukraine. They are now also being used as motherships for drone operations over European nations.
This fleet originally emerged in response to the G7’s $60-per-barrel oil price cap which was supposed to limit oil money available to Putin’s war chest whilst keeping crude moving, thus avoiding the market fluctuations a total ban would have created. The intentions were good, but the execution was poor and the dark fleet of ships ignoring the price cap grew accordingly. It is now believed to be in excess of 1,000 ships. As a side issue, there are now 95 of these ships abandoned and drifting around the world’s oceans just waiting for disaster to strike.
Meanwhile, those still with crews are being used for imaginative grey-zone activities beyond moving sanctioned oil. Ship-to-ship transfers have been used, under cover of AIS transponder jamming and spoofing, to move more than oil. Chemicals and weapons are also on the list. The last two years have seen at least 11 undersea cables cut by dark fleet ships dragging their anchors, and other means. Disruption so far has been minimal – the undersea cable networks generally have plenty of redundancy – but it’s only a matter of time before this causes a major internet or power outage somewhere.
And now, in another grey-zone twist, it appears the dark fleet is being used to launch drones into other countries’ airspace. The latest surge in this started in Poland on September 10. Some of the twenty or so drones – these ones probably land launched rather than from ships – were shot down, some were not. By September 25, the same was happening in Denmark, forcing airports to close. There were other incidents and sightings in Norway and Romania. None of these countries wasted much time pointing the finger of blame. Why would they; it’s obvious. Some analysts, myself included, looked at the movements of the Russian navy’s Ropucha-class landing ship the Aleksandr Shabalin and it’s AIS transmissions and assessed that it was part of the delivery package also. And it wasn’t long before various dark fleet vessel movements were being scrutinised in the same manner.
The next thing we know, the tanker Boracay, has been boarded off the coast of Saint Nazaire by French special forces. As is often the case, the Benin-flagged ship has something of a record and was sanctioned back in February when she was called Kiwala. It appears that this is her fourth name since 2020 and her sixth flag over the same period. Name and flag changes are now a regular part of this irregular activity. That she isn’t insured is a given. On this voyage, she was heading from the Russian port of Primorsk towards the Indian port of Vadinar before the French boarding team rapid-roped aboard and suggested a different destination “just over there please”. She was off Denmark over the period of the drone incursions there.