Mideast oil powerhouse bans Russian ‘shadow fleet’ vessels that seek to undermine sanctions

The United Arab Emirates has pushed back on Russia’s efforts to circumvent Western sanctions through a “shadow fleet” by refusing entry to its port for any ship from the African country of Eswatini. 

“Using a ‘shadow fleet’ to smuggle oil while concealing its origin, in order to circumvent Western economic sanctions has been part of Putin’s playbook of sanction-proofing Russia’s economy,” Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer and author of “Putin’s Playbook,” told Fox News Digital. 

“Moscow anticipated U.S. sanctions prior to the invasion of Ukraine,” Koffler said. “So, Putin has been sanction-proofing the Russian economy with several measures since 2014, when the Russian forces took over Crimea.”

“The vessels comprising this dark fleet are typically aging, lack proper safety standards, lack insurance, hence they present a threat to maritime security as they can create a hazardous situation at any time,” she added. 

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A list of ships published by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure names Eswatini as the latest country to which no services from any UAE ship agents or maritime company should be provided as they “are not complying with this circular to avoid legal accountability.” 

“…this Administration has decided to include the vessels registered under the flag state of Eswatini (Swaziland) to the existing list of restricted flag State vessels calling UAE waters and ports, unless they are classified by a member of IACS Class or by the Emirates Classification Society,” the notice read. 

The flags of Eswatini started showing up this year, with ship broker Clarkson Research Services Ltd. reporting zero ships in 2023 registered under the Eswatini flag even as 26 such ships now sail the seas. 

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Eswatini is a landlocked country in Southern Africa and has increasingly worked with Russia to transport oil as part of dodging sanctions. Bloomberg tracked the ownership of 18 Eswatini-flagged ships in ship-tracking data, finding that 16 had “unclear” ownership, but that several tankers transported oil produced in Russia and Iran. 

Eswatini athletes wave from the River Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26, 2024. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

The United States sanctioned three Eswatini ships for supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and later helping export grain from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine during the briefly brokered grain corridor, according to The Economist. 

A spokesman for the Eswatini ship registry told the outlet that the country delisted two of the ships for breaking the country’s administration guidelines of compliance, but one month later two of the ships continued to fly the Eswatini flag. The spokesman argued that once the country delists a ship, they stop following them, and any use of the flag is “illegal and invalid.” 

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The Atlantic Council think tank in January published a report on the growing Russian “dark fleet,” estimating that 1,400 ships make up the fleet and operate in a “gray zone” that makes it hard for countries to punish. 

Freight wagons at a rail depot near the Port of Burgas in Burgas, Bulgaria, on March 13, 2024. (Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The great concern, as both Koffler and the Atlantic Council noted, focuses on the poor condition of these ships since they operate illegally and do not want to raise suspicion from officials. 

The think tank called such ships “aging and poorly maintained,” which has given rise to incidents that legitimate vessels end up having to pay for, since the shadow fleet lacks proper insurance.

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That puts the burden on coastal nations, which are obligated under search-and-rescue convention to put in time and resources to help distressed illegal vessels without recourse. 

“The potential harm to coastal states is tangible, but since the aggression doesn’t involve military, it means it’s virtually impossible for a country to avenge harm caused to it by a shadow vessel, even if it can prove the ship is transporting Russian cargo,” Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw wrote.