Latest news with #ShadowFleet
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Telegraph
Russian warship ‘passed through English Channel in disguise'
A Russian warship passed through the English Channel in disguise over the weekend, according to reports. The corvette Boikiy, which has guided missiles and mounted machine guns, is said to have broadcast a fake ID signal as it travelled through the Channel on Saturday. It is not the first time this year the warship has entered British waters after being tracked in March making its way through the Channel and North Sea. This time, it reportedly travelled alongside two oil tankers, the Sierra and the Naxos, which are part of Russia's shadow fleet, a network of tankers that transport sanctioned Russian oil using deceptive practices. Using military ships as protection has been viewed as an attempt by Moscow to deter the UK and other Nato states from seizing shadow fleet vessels. Last month, a Russian shadow Kilo-class submarine, Krasnodar, was detected in the Channel, forcing the Navy to deploy HMS Tyne to track it. That came just two weeks after HMS St Albans and HMS Mersey shadowed Russian vessels through the Channel in a separate incident. At the same time, the number of Russian oil tankers passing through the Channel has almost doubled since London sanctioned Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, according to data analysis by The Telegraph. Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at the Centre for Naval Analyses, told the BBC: 'The action seems designed to deter the UK and other Nato states from attempting to board and, or, seize these vessels, since the presence of a military escort heightens the risk of confrontation and further escalation.' BBC Verify, the broadcaster's fact-checking unit, said the Boikiy did not activate its tracking systems when it departed from Conakry, the capital of Guinea, in West Africa earlier this month. The ship reportedly failed to activate its automatic identification system (AIS), which alerts fellow seafarers and coastal authorities of its location, route and other safety-related information to aid safe passage at sea. Generic identification number Instead, it is said to have travelled under a generic identification number 400000000, which made it wrongly appear on tracking sites as previous vessels to have used that ID. Verify, which used satellite imagery, tracking data, and video footage to identify the warship, said it passed near the Canary Islands before meeting the two shadow tankers at the mouth of the Channel on June 20. The Royal Navy is reported to have shadowed the Boikiy as it then passed through the Channel towards the Baltic Sea. Webcam footage later appeared to show the warship passing underneath the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. Frederik Van Lokeren, an analyst and former officer in the Belgian navy, said it was unusual for a Russian warship to disguise itself. 'Normally, if the Russians want to remain hidden in secret, they just turn off their AIS signal,' he said. 'So for them to be camouflaging as something else… it's very, very uncommon.'
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
What is Russia's Shadow Fleet, the target of latest EU sanctions?
Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' is in focus after the European Union on Tuesday imposed a sweeping set of sanctions, which the group described as its 'largest ever package' targeting it. The European Council adopted the 17th package of economic and individual restrictive measures, including on the shadow fleet for oil exports, cutting off Russia's access to key military technology. Meanwhile, as per a statement from the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the latest sanctions target entities supporting Russia's military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin's invasion of Ukraine and to disrupt the supply chains of deadly Russian weapons systems, including Iskander missiles. The sanctions are aimed at curtailling Moscow's revenue streams from crude oil sales using the so-called 'Shadow Fleet'. The fleet is reportedly used to move Russian oil across the globe despite the Western sanctions on any such sale. According to a report by the Guardian, the Russian Shadow Fleet is a collection of 500 or so old and uninsured secret oil tankers. The EU says Moscow uses this fleet to secretly export oil to other countries, dodging sanctions. These ships are called the 'Shadow Fleet' as they operate in shadows, outside the rules set for international shipping. They are reportedly unregistered, hide their movements, operate under fake names and often change their flag to remain untracked. The fleet is important for Russia as it is a way to dodge international sanctions imposed on its oil export after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil is a major source of money for the Kremlin, and that's how it funds its war in Ukraine. To offset that, a price cap was introduced on Russian oil, barring the country from selling it above $60 per barrel to certain countries. Shipping companies in Europe were banned from helping transport Russian oil if it broke the rules. To continue selling oil and making money without following its adversaries' rules, Russia began building the shadow fleet. Under international shipping rules, ships use an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to communicate their location with the concerned authorities and other ships. That feature is switched off in the shadow fleet, which helps it maintain its secrecy. The ships frequently change their names and flags mid-journey, making it difficult to ascertain where the oil came from. The fleet also moves the oil from one ship to another in the middle of the ocean to achieve the same thing. Many of these tankers are ageing, bought secondhand from Western countries. They are more likely to leak or cause accidents, raising environmental concerns.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German Foreign Minister: Russia 'threatens us all' in Baltic Sea
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has announced increased surveillance following alleged acts of sabotage by Russia's so-called shadow fleet on cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea, in comments released on Saturday. "We, as neighbour, NATO and the EU, are countering hybrid threats with all our might, including further patrols," Wadephul told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "In the Baltic Sea region, Russia threatens us all," he warned. The shadow fleet refers to tankers and other cargo ships that Russia uses to avoid sanctions, particularly for oil transport. In recent months, there have been numerous alleged acts of sabotage by the shadow fleet on cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Since then, the underwater infrastructure has been more closely monitored. EU ratchets up sanctions Wadephul went on to say that the threat had become increasingly serious in recent months. "Severed cables, disrupted signals and suspicious ships are causing us great concern," he said, describing the shadow fleet as an absolute security risk. The EU will impose further sanctions directly on these ships, he added. "This also helps Ukraine, as the shadow fleet transports oil every day that Russia sells by bypassing sanctions." On Tuesday, EU foreign ministers are due to formally adopt a 17th package of sanctions against Russia. It includes a further tightening of measures against the Russian shadow fleet for the transport of oil and oil products. According to Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, approximately 84% of Russia's crude oil exports pass through the Baltic Sea with the shadow fleet. This corresponds to more than a third of Russia's budget revenues, she noted. On Friday, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, which represents the democratic countries bordering the Baltic Sea, called for new shipping rules to allow for stronger joint action against Russia's shadow fleet.
Daily Mirror
16-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Keir Starmer warns Putin must 'pay the price' after shameful peace talk snub
Keir Starmer will meet around 40 leaders at the European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania, today, where they will discuss ways to turn the screws on Putin's war machine Keir Starmer has said Vladimir Putin must "pay the price for dodging peace" as European leaders seek to turn the screws on his war machine. The Prime Minister will meet dozens of his counterparts in Albanian capital Tirana today after the Russian leader refused to attend peace talks with Ukraine. Representatives from around 40 nations will look at ways to toughen sanctions against Moscow at the European Political Community summit. The Russian economy is in serious trouble after a wave of sanctions, with its non-defence sector in recession, and Mr Starmer called on Europe to go further. He said: 'People in Ukraine and across the world have paid the price for Putin's aggression in Ukraine and across Europe, now he must pay the price for avoiding peace. 'Putin's tactics to dither and delay, while continuing to kill and cause bloodshed across Ukraine, is intolerable. For the past three years, Ukraine has been fighting for peace and security, while Russia has sent thousands of young men and women to their deaths and compromised global stability. 'Alongside the US and more than 30 other partners, we have been clear that we will not stand for Russia kicking a ceasefire down the road. A full, unconditional ceasefire must be agreed and if Russia is unwilling to come to the negotiating table, Putin must pay the price.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to join leaders for the crucial summit. Mr Starmer is making a two-day trip to the Balkan state, becoming the first UK leader to make an official visit. No10 said leaders will discuss further sanctions agaiunst Russia - with focus on energy revenues. Europe will look at oil exports, the Kremlin's biggest source of tax revenues. Further measures are likely to cause "further pain", with revenues already a third lower than they were in 2022 thanks to Western sanctions. Putin angered world leaders by failing to turn up to peace talks in Turkey on Thursday. Mr Zelensky had called for a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader, their first since the invasion in 2022. Mr Starmer will lead a security roundtable with the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson. He will also speak to leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Ukraine about latest efforts with the US to end the bloodshed. It comes after Mr Starmer last week announced the UK's largest ever package of sanctions on Russia's Shadow Fleet. The sanctions will apply further pressure on the Russian economy.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Europe braces for 'most extreme' military scenario as Trump-Putin 2.0 begins
LONDON — All over Europe, there are signs of a continent steeling itself for the unthinkable. Lithuania plans to lay mines on its bridges to Russia, ready to detonate should Kremlin tanks try to cross. In the nearby Baltic Sea, NATO ships are hunting Russia's so-called 'Shadow Fleet' accused of cutting undersea communications cables. And in Europe's skies there are plans to construct a vast missile defense system, similar to Israel's 'Iron Dome' but with the explicit purpose of shooting down rockets launched by Moscow. European governments and citizens worry that an emboldened Kremlin may turn his armies their way after Ukraine. There is also widespread nervousness that the new president — an isolationist — has suggested he may not defend America's historical NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia. While President Donald Trump this week criticized Vladimir Putin, Trump has showed few signs of a meaningful shifting from that position. On Thursday, he said in an interview with Fox News that 'Zelenskyy was fighting a much bigger entity,' and that 'he shouldn't have done that, because we could have made a deal.' He said little new about NATO or Europe, only reiterating his latest demand for European allies to pay 5% of their GDP toward defense — more than twice the NATO recommendation — and lamenting how much more Washington has spent than Brussels supporting Ukraine's defense. 'NATO has to pay more,' Trump said. 'It's ridiculous because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between.' The stakes couldn't be higher. European officials have repeatedly stated that Putin is preparing for a war with the West. For many this is already happening, with think tank analysts, governments and NATO itself accusing Moscow of 'hybrid warfare' attacks — from election interference to trying to crash airliners with firebombs. 'The Europeans are taking this very seriously,' said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe between 2014 and late 2017. In particular, countries in Eastern Europe nearer the Russian border 'know that this is for real, because they live there,' Hodges added. 'It's only those people who live in Western Europe or the U.S., far away from the Bear, who say: 'Come on, this is not going to happen.'' The core tenet of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is that allies will defend any fellow member under attack. The only time this 'Article 5' promise has been triggered was after 9/11, when Europe helped the United States patrol its skies in an act of solidarity. The main message of that stipulation is that if a country attacks Europe, it will also be at war with Washington, and its intended audience is Russia. But Trump has repeatedly suggested he would ignore Europe's distress call. Plenty of those in Europe's corridors of power agree that a complacent continent has for too long relied on Washington's protection. French President Emmanuel Macron, a longtime proponent of European self-reliance, said Monday that Trump's second term should serve as a "wake-up call" for the continent. In comments made at a defense conference on Wednesday, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas agreed with Trump's assessment of European spending, saying that 'Russia poses an existential threat to our security today, tomorrow and for as long as we underinvest in our defense.' Many of these critics remain nonetheless alarmed. 'While every president has complained that European countries don't do enough, there never was a question about American commitment,' said Hodges. 'This causes a lot of anxiety.' In the short term, Trump and key members of his incoming administration have vowed to quickly end Russia's war in Ukraine, likely impossible without huge territorial concessions from Kyiv. Effectively giving Russia a win would be a signal to the Kremlin that aggression is rewarded and the West has no appetite to intervene, critics say. 'Russia is preparing for a war with the West,' German foreign intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said in a November speech. For years experts and government officials have accused Moscow of spreading disinformation, launching cyber attacks and using any other means necessary to meddle in the elections of democratic countries. Though Moscow denies it. Western officials and experts are near united in agreeing that this campaign only seems to be expanding. Last month, Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker they suspected of having severed undersea power and internet cables. That was among a spate of incidents that prompted NATO to launch operation 'Baltic Sentry,' stepping up maritime patrols. Meanwhile, Western officials said Russia was responsible for sending two incendiary devices to DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the United Kingdom in July as part of a wider sabotage campaign to possibly start fires aboard North America-bound aircraft. In response, Europe has reversed decades of military underfunding, with most of its big powers now hitting the NATO guideline of 2% of GDP spent on defense. Spending started to increase in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea, although Trump is widely credited for accelerating it. On Wednesday, the European Union's defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius announced that Lithuania intends to spend between 5% and 6% of its GDP on defense in the coming years. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022 has focused minds further. In March, the European Union allocated 500 million euros (around $515 million) to double shell ammunition production to 2 million units per year. And 22 countries have now joined the European Sky Shield Initiative, a continent-wide missile defense system designed to protect against Russian attacks. 'Europe must be prepared for the most extreme military contingencies,' a spokesperson for the bloc told NBC News in an email when asked whether the continent was preparing for a worst case scenario of war with Russia. 'Put simply: to prevent war we need to spend more. If we wait more, it'll cost us more.' Asked if that change was prompted by Trump's suggestion he may not defend Europe as well as Putin, the spokesperson referred only to the Russian president, whose war in Ukraine they said 'challenges the international rules-based order itself.' For its part, Ukraine's reaction to the reelection and inauguration of President Trump has been assiduously diplomatic. On Inauguration Day, the country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that Trump "is always decisive" and said his second term was an opportunity to "achieve a long-term and just peace." Whatever the impetus, 'the mindset has changed big time,' said Vytis Jurkonis, who leads the Lithuanian office of Freedom House, an international pro-democracy group. 'We need to make it very clear to the Kremlin that any attack against a NATO member is going to cost and have consequences,' said Jurkonis, who also teaches politics at Lithuania's Vilnius University. The Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are particularly vulnerable, perched on a small peninsula between mainland Russia, the heavily militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Baltic Sea. For decades occupied by the Soviet Union, these now-Westernized states are only now constructing 'the Baltic Defense Line,' a frontier hundreds of miles long dotted with anti-tank trenches and pillboxes. Lithuania has already purchased warehouses full of 'dragons' teeth' — concrete pyramids designed to stop tanks — and plans to mine its bridges to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, its defense ministry told NBC News. Lithuania recently said it would raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, the highest in NATO and far more, proportionally, than Washington's 3.4%. That's still lower than Russia, with the Kremlin effectively reordering its economy along a war footing and committing at least 6.2% of its inflation-hit finances to its military. In western Scandinavia, meanwhile, Norway has updated its emergency preparedness booklet that it hands out to all citizens, telling them how much water, food and other supplies to stockpile in case of 'acts of war.' The 20-page document has historically focused on extreme weather and accidents, but its most recent version notes that 'we live in an increasingly turbulent world' and warns people that 'in the event of an act of war, you may be notified that you should seek shelter. Meanwhile, Swedish church authorities — on guidance from Sweden's armed forces — have begun looking for extra cemetery space should such a conflict reach their shores. And Germany committed around 100 million euros to reinstate public sirens that were removed when the Iron Curtain fell. And yet there are plenty of observers who believe that Europe is not doing nearly enough. Western European countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom have only committed 'small percentage uplifts to defense budgets, which is nothing like the transformative investment' in Eastern Europe, said Keir Giles, a leading defense analyst at London's Chatham House think tank. For Giles, author of 'Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent,' the problem is that 'countries further away are still pretending that war is something that happens to other people.' What's more, efforts are further complicated by the political situation. Europe's mainstream parties are being challenged by populists, who often mix their vehement opposition to immigration with a softer — and sometimes even friendly — stance toward Russia. That's a problem for those who argue Russia's war on Europe has already begun. 'Anybody who isn't worried hasn't been paying attention,' said Giles. This article was originally published on
