Russland erwägt die Entsendung bewaffneter Marinepatrouillen zum Schutz der „Schattenflotte“

Putin ally Patrushev says Moscow could deploy ‘mobile firing groups’ after series of suspected Ukrainian attacks on ships
—

Russia is considering sending armed naval patrols to protect its ships following attacks on its “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and may arm the vessels themselves, a senior aide to Vladimir Putin has said.

Nikolai Patrushev, a longtime associate of the Russian president and head of the Russian Maritime Board, said Moscow could deploy “mobile firing groups” to protect Russian-flagged tankers as well as “special means of defence” on board the ships.

Patrushev’s comments, in an interview published on Wednesday by the newspaper Kommersant, reflect Russia’s determination to push back against suspected Ukrainian attacks on its ships. Dubbed the “shadow fleet”, Moscow has used the vessels to evade western sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of setting the Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz liquefied natural gas tanker ablaze in an attack involving unmanned sea drones off Libya earlier this month. Kyiv has claimed responsibility for an attack on an oil tanker, the Qendil, in the Mediterranean in December as well as several vessels in the Black Sea.

Ukraine stepped up attacks against ‘shadow fleet’ vessels last year but has not publicly claimed any strikes since December. The confirmed attacks were mostly in the Black Sea, where Ukrainian naval drones have also repeatedly hit Russian warships.

Patrushev said “third-rate sea powers” had begun an “unprecedented campaign” against shipments from Russian ports that demanded a response.

He said Moscow would inspect ships entering its ports from abroad and take steps to increase control over export cargoes “in the interests of Russia”.

Moscow monitors all maritime shipments in real time to prevent attacks and could deploy its navy to step up protections for the civilian vessels, Patrushev said.

“We note all the more often that political, diplomatic and legal measures often do not manage to stop the western campaign against Russian shipping,” he said. “In the case that new threats at sea appear from European countries, we will develop new measures.”

Patrushev, who has been close to Putin since their days in the KGB, also implied that Russia would take the shadow fleet under its overt control.

The fleet’s vessels have historically sailed under third-country flags and use other means of deception such as GPS spoofing to avoid western sanctions against Russia’s oil exports.

Recently, however, more and more of them are flagging to Russia as western authorities increasingly pursue flag states in an effort to crack down on the fleet.

“Russia needs foremost to have its own potential to ship via sea — a fleet, shipbuilding and repair facilities, port capacity, operations, insurance and so on,” Patrushev said.

“One of the most damaging delusions has been the idea that we don’t need to have a national trade fleet and can always find dubious ways to save money by finding a ‘convenient flag’ to ship under,” he added. “We will continue to be a part of the global maritime economy and work with interested partners, but only under mutually beneficial conditions.”

Patrushev’s comments also appeared to be a partial response to Donald Trump’s vow to deploy US naval escorts for oil tankers seeking to evade Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Kremlin has shared targeting intelligence with Iran, including locations of US military assets in the Middle East, in a manner resembling US intelligence sharing of Russian targets in Ukraine, people familiar with the matter have said.

Putin has largely refrained from outright criticism of the US president’s war against Iran and offered to mediate with Tehran, a longtime Russian ally, during a call with Trump last week.

But Patrushev said the conflict was a “tragedy” that would “set the existing system of global trade and economic relations back years” and “has no justification or objective reasons”.

Essentially, Operation Epic Fury is carving up the global energy market and destroying maritime logistics,” he said. “And there is nothing epic about this fury — instead the world is looking at a tragedy with unpredictable humanitarian and economic consequences.”

Though the war-driven surge in oil prices has given a boost to Russia’s budget of up to $150mn in extra export revenue a day, Patrushev said the benefits for Moscow were temporary and outweighed by the risk of damage to longtime partners in the Middle East.

The US move to allow cargoes of sanctioned Russian oil to be transported to India to ease oil prices has, however, demonstrated an increasing division between European and US sanctions regimes and authorities’ desire to crack down on shadow fleet activities.

David Tannenbaum, director at Blackstone Compliance, said the US decision was “bonkers” and would “embolden” shadow fleet vessels.

Well then those vessels are now clearly Russian, the moment the escort leaves they’re fair game to be captured