Sweden’s navy has confirmed that Russia is mounting a military-style operation in the Baltic Sea to protect its sanctioned shadow fleet, with uniformed and potentially armed personnel observed aboard some oil tankers used to evade Western sanctions on Russian crude exports.
According to Sweden’s naval operations chief, the increased activity reflects a more permanent Russian naval presence in key Baltic and Gulf of Finland sea lanes, with warships patrolling and providing cover for the ageing sanction-evading tankers.
Marko Petkovic, the Swedish navy’s chief of operations, told local media, “We have seen and received information that on some shadow fleet vessels, there are Russian personnel in uniform.”
The reports mark the first official confirmation by a NATO navy that military personnel are aboard shadow fleet vessels transiting the Baltic.
Every sixth tanker in the world now belongs to Russia’s shadow fleet, making up about 17% of all operational tankers worldwide, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Latest analysis from broker BRS shows that what it terms as the ‘grey’ VLCC fleet has grown from 10% to 18% of the global VLCC fleet while the suezmax grey fleet grew this year from 16% of the global suezmax fleet to 19%.
