Moscow, Russia – Russian foreign intelligence warned on Monday of an imminent attack that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries may launch on what is known as the Russian “shadow fleet.” The intelligence stated: “British intelligence services plan to push NATO allies towards launching a mass raid on what is known as the “shadow fleet”.
The Shadow Fleet is a group of merchant ships believed to be operated by Russia to circumvent international sanctions on Moscow, particularly those related to oil exports.
Russian intelligence indicated that “Britain plans to choose the timing of the attack so that it can use its media influence to pressure the Trump administration (US President Donald Trump), and the goal is to force Washington to impose secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy resources”.
She also noted that “London intends to assign Ukrainian forces to carry out terrorist attacks against Russian oil tankers.”
Last July, Britain imposed sanctions on 135 oil tankers belonging to the Russian Shadow Fleet, in an attempt to obstruct the flow of funds helping Moscow finance the war in Ukraine.
The British Foreign Office said in a statement that sanctions were also imposed on a shipping services company and an oil trading company as part of the crackdown on a fleet “responsible for transporting goods worth $24 billion in illegal ways since the beginning of 2024.” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “The new sanctions will further dismantle Putin’s shadow fleet and drain important oil revenues to finance Russia’s war treasury.”
Security analysts say Russia is using a fleet of old ships to circumvent international sanctions that prevent it from selling oil.
The European Union and the United Kingdom have also imposed sanctions on hundreds of ships since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation in Ukraine in 2022.
