Bewaffnetes Personal in Uniform sei an Bord von Schiffen der sogenannten „Schattenflotte“ Russlands gesichtet worden, teilte die schwedische Marine mit
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/17/armed-guards-spotted-on-russian-shadow-fleet-vessels-sweden-says-a91467
9 Kommentare
> Commodore Marko Petkovic, the head of operations for Sweden’s navy, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the individuals were likely employees of private security companies.
Why would they be on alleged Russian fleets if they aren’t affiliated with them then?
Nice targets for some drones
Time to promote the shadow fleet to submarines
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If we are going to be illegally boarding/sinking ships, these would make more strategic sense.
Clearly trafficking ‚WMD‘ narcotics.
Part of their uniforms better be life vests
Armed guards are not unsual aboard vessels but they are transiting the HRA zone or going through the bab al-mandab strait where there is high risk. Just having them in general is a crazy notion, especially since russians vessels have to either go via the Great belt/Sound strait or the Dardanelles/Bosporus strait. Even worse go via the Kiel canal, but I doubt the vessels are small enough to go via there. Also I am sure the germans would board the vessel while in transit if they did.
It’s telling how much the Kremlin recognizes the finite shadow fleet resources they have. It’s telling how much less the recruiting efforts are yielding. It’s telling how much the costs are being weighed vs squeezed incomes. Every body not along the Frontline in Ukraine is a big deal.
This is not a „Putin is done“ post that my „educated“ redditor colleagues frequently decry, but moreso an observation that the warning lights are starting to flicker for the Kremlin.