Nathan Reynoso 
5 February 2025
[Linden, VA] – A new report by Crude Accountability, “Russia’s Shadow Fleet,” exposes the Russian Federation’s sanctions-evading oil trade, which flows from the Black Sea and other Russian ports to the European Union (EU) and elsewhere.The result of a 2-year investigation by Crude Accountability, the dossier identifies 8 ships that transport Russian oil from the ports of Murmansk, Novorossiysk, Taman, and Ust Luga, which are operated and insured by Western companies. The dossier also tracks ships conducting ship-to-ship transfers within EU waters, posing serious risks of oil spillage and environmental damage to the Gulf of Lakonia, Greece.
Russia’s “shadow fleet” comprises aging tankers that are vulnerable to accidents and mechanical failure. In 2007, a tanker, the Volganeft-139, split in half during a storm in the Strait of Kerch, spilling at least 1,300 tons of fuel oil into the water, oiling wildlife and miles of shoreline. On December 15, 2024, two oil tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were wrecked in a storm in the Strait of Kerch, dumping 5,000 tons of fuel oil into the surrounding waters, contaminating both the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
The opacity of maritime trade and Russian oil is nothing new, as reported in two of Crude Accountability’s previous reports on the unregulated nature of the industry and the Western enablers that benefit from the “shadow fleet.”
“The ‘shadow fleet’ represents myriad problems that we associate with the war in Ukraine, but in reality, they are also reflections of much larger crises,” says Jeffrey Dunn, Crude Accountability Research Coordinator. “The apathy of Western corporate actors, slow and bureaucratic responses from Western governments, inefficiencies, exploitation, neglect by international organizations, and the ever-present risk the fossil fuel industry poses to the environment and climate in the name of profit won’t just go away if we simply sit and wait. They will only grow to be worse. The time to act is now.”
Two of the ships Crude Accountability identified as likely being associated with the Russian ‘shadow fleet’, the Nanda Devi and the Sagitta, are among the 183 ships the US government sanctioned on January 10, 2025. Our new report also includes an index of 15 additional ships Crude Accountability’s research indicates are part of the Russian shadow fleet.
“Our report on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ shines a light on some of the gaping holes in the international infrastructure meant to stop Putin’s ability to continue his full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” adds Kate Watters, Crude Accountability Executive Director. “As our work demonstrates, not only is this system failing, resulting in the on-going suffering of the Ukrainian people, but it is also putting our oceans at risk of oil spills and more as Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ engages in dodgy deals in full view of the world.”
The report contains recommendations for OSCE participating states and civil society, calling for greater regulatory and watchdogging efforts to uphold sanctions and monitor ship-to-ship transfers.
The full report is available for download HERE.
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