Russia’s shadow fleet: ‘Sooner or later an accident will happen’
A sanctioned shadow fleet oil tanker has sailed back-and-forth for a week outside Norway’s far northern Varanger Peninsula. “It is not a question of if, but when, an accident will happen along our coast,” says Frode Pleym, leader of Greenpeace Norway.
The 245 meter long Unity is sailing under the flag of Gambia, is sanctioned by the EU and might operate without proper insurance. It is not clear why the suspicious 15-years-old oil tanker has zigzagged in the waters off the coast of the Varanger Peninsula for almost a week.
Since April 18, the Unity has been located along Norway’s maritime border to Russia. Judging from ship traffic data, the vessel in early March set out from the Indian port of Mangalore. It was due to arrive in Arkhangelsk, northern Russia, on April 20.
But the tanker appears to have paused its voyage in the rough north Norwegian waters.
The Unity is part of the so-called “shadow fleet” that sails sanctioned Russian oil to international markets. In February 2025, the vessel was put on the EU’s sanctions list.
Port Manager Leif Arne Haughom in Vardø, the north Norwegian town, says to the Barents Observer that the Unity has not requested any services from the local port authority.
According to Arve Dimmen at the Norwegian Coastal Administration, the tanker is awaiting orders.
“There is nothing abnormal in this situation,” Dimmen explains to the Barents Observer. He admits, however, that Russian vessels normally choose to await order further east, in the Russian part of the Barents Sea.
“We are not taking any measures from the Norwegian side, but we are following the situation,” he says.
According to Splash247, a shipping newspaper, the Unity in January 2025 lost engine power off the coast of France. The incident could have triggered a crisis.
Frode Pleym, leader of Greenpeace Norway, says it is a question of when, not if, an accident with a shadow fleet tanker will happen along the Norwegian coast.
“The shadow fleet often consists of old and rusty shipы, which have unclear ownership and insufficient and non-existent insurance. The Unity appears to be empty now, but might be full of oil the next time. I get chills when I think about what’s going on along our vulnerable coast,” Pleym says.
Like most other ‘shadow fleet’ tankers, the Unity has a muddled ownership structure. According to industry experts is sails without P&I insurance.
Since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022 and unprecedented sanctions against the aggressor state were imposed by the international community, the Unity has twice shifted names and owners.
Judging from the Equasis ship database, the Unity has over the past four years had four different owners. The latter two is the Argo Tanker Group LLC and the FMTC Ship Charger LLC.
The shadow fleet is important for Putin’s war in Ukraine, Pleym argues.
“Everyone known that the shadow fleet helps Putin fund the gruesome war. The fact that these ships continue to sail along our coast, and now also spend days outside Vardø, makes me sick and angry,” the Greenpeace leader says.
He argues that Norway should take measures against the ships.
“We call on the foreign minister and minister of industry to take action. Neither the Unity nor other ships have any business in our waters. Specifically, Norway and the EU should ban the shadow tankers from sailing through the economic zones. Until that happens, the money continues to flow into Putin’s war chest.”
Located in Kirkenes, Norway, just a few kilometres from the borders to Russia and Finland, the Barents Observer is dedicated to cross-border journalism in Scandinavia, Russia and the wider Arctic.
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