A Russian-linked oil tanker, Virat, issued a frantic “mayday” call after being struck twice by Ukrainian unmanned naval drones in the Black Sea, in what Kyiv says is a deliberate campaign to choke Moscow’s “shadow fleet” used to skirt Western oil sanctions. Videos show sea drones rushing toward the hulking tankers before fiery explosions erupt.(X/@jurgen_nauditt)…
THE GREY-ZONE conflict between the West and Russia is escalating at sea as well as in the air. On September 19th, as Russian MiG-31 jets violated Estonian airspace, your correspondent was with Estonia’s navy at its base in Tallinn, the NATO member’s capital. Its naval force is on the front lines of a push to…
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France’s detention of a Russian-linked ship as “piracy”, vowing a “significant” response to what he called European threats as tension flared. The Russian leader’s warning came after the French navy on Saturday detained and boarded an oil tanker that has been blacklisted by the European Union for being part…
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union approved on Friday a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “The message is clear:…
MILAN — U.S.-based Saildrone deployed a handful of unmanned surface vessels as part of NATO’s Task Force X demonstration in the Baltic Sea, which helped detect and track Russian shadow-fleet vessels operating in the area, according to the company. Launched last year, Task Force X is led by NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and seeks…
May 21, 2025 03:11 AM IST The UK government sanctioned John Michael Ormerod, 2 Russian ship captains, 18 vessels, and 46 financial institutions, adding them to its sanctions list. The UK sanctioned an English accountant for allegedly helping Russia expand the fleet of tankers it uses to covertly ship crude around the globe. It’s part…