Russia begins naval escort of shadow fleet tankers
27.05.2025 - 12:30
The photo is illustrative.
After Russia promised to take measures to protect its ships, it began escorting tankers from its “shadow fleet” in the Gulf of Finland.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Gäkkinen called it “unprecedented” in an interview on Finnish television, The Maritime Executive reports.
“The new feature is that Russia is protecting tankers from its shadow fleet in the narrow passage of the Gulf of Finland. There is a military escort and a presence of armed forces. This is a completely new development,” Gäkkinen told Yle, Finland’s national public broadcaster.
He made the statement after the Finnish Defense Ministry reported that two Russian military aircraft were suspected of violating Finnish airspace on the afternoon of May 23, 2025. Gäkkinen said: “We take the suspicion of a violation of territorial integrity seriously, and an investigation is currently underway.”
The escalation appears to be a response to moves by the EU and the UK to impose sanctions on more tankers and Estonia’s efforts to inspect suspected “shadow fleet” tankers. On May 13, Estonian forces briefly confronted a tanker they suspected of operating without legal registration. The tanker refused to stop for inspection, and a Russian fighter jet entered Estonian airspace, possibly to protect the tanker. In April, Estonia detained another suspected “stateless” tanker for several days.
Following the incident in May, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, accused the EU of supporting “gross violations of freedom of navigation.” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, also said that Russia would use all means to protect its ships.
As an example of how far the “shadow fleet” can go, the tanker involved in the May 13 incident, the Gabonese-registered Jaguar, left the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk on May 25 under a new name. AIS signals show the vessel is now sailing under the name Blint and registered in the Comoros. This is the third name change for the vessel, which started 2025 as Argent, changed to Jaguar, and now Blint, all in the space of a few months. USM previously reported that Estonia has already inspected around 450 suspicious vessels.
