"Shadow Fleet": Russian eyes in European waters?

 

The ship "Boracay"

"Shadow Fleet": Russian eyes in European waters?

Europe is concerned about data indicating the presence of Russian spies in its waters, working secretly on ships in the Russian "shadow fleet".

According to CNN, since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, Russia has created a “shadow fleet” comprising hundreds of oil tankers.

Russian ships within this fleet transport oil from ports on the Baltic and Black Seas, ignoring Western sanctions, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for Moscow.

European concern

Western and Ukrainian intelligence sources revealed to the network that Russian individuals with ties to the military and security services are conducting espionage in European waters, working secretly on ships in the shadow fleet, which is causing concern in European capitals.

In recent months, some of these ships, often registered in other countries, have hired additional personnel shortly before leaving the port.

According to multiple intelligence sources, many of these men work for a secretive Russian company called "Moran Security".

The sources said that Moran is a private security company with ties to the Russian military and intelligence services, and that the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on it in 2024 for providing "armed security services" to Russian state-owned companies.

According to the sources, members of the "Moran" were spotted on board ships of the Shadow Fleet six months ago, and they are often the only Russians on board. A Western intelligence source said that members of the "Moran" took pictures of European military installations from one of the ships.

Oleksandr Stakhnevych of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service said that the Russians on board the ships are also tasked with monitoring the ship commanders because most of them are not Russian citizens.

Security officials said that putting armed men with military backgrounds on board shadow ships is another tool in hybrid warfare tactics designed to create disruption in Europe, while intelligence sources reported that these men were involved in acts of sabotage but did not provide details.

"That's difficult to prove."

"Everyone knows, at least to some extent, that these men take their orders from the Russian state, but it's difficult to prove," said Jacob Karsbo, a former Danish intelligence official.

CNN gathered information about Moran's recent activities aboard the Boracay, a sanctioned oil tanker that changed its name and official registration location several times over the past three years.

On September 20, two Russian men boarded the "Borakai" in the port of Primorsk on the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg.

The two men were described on the crew list as technicians and were the only Russians on board the ship, whose crew consisted of citizens from China, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

According to a Western intelligence source, one of the men is a former police officer who previously worked for the Wagner Group. Neither of them has a prominent online presence, and their activities aboard the Boracay are unclear.

During another voyage of the "Boracay" in July, it was revealed that one of the men on board worked for the special police regiment of the Russian Interior Ministry, while another address was registered with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Antennas and masts

Many of the Parallel Fleet's ships sail through the Baltic Sea, a vital waterway that lies on the borders of several NATO member states, such as Denmark and Sweden.

Danish maritime pilots, who board oil tankers to help them pass through the straits, noted the presence of Russians on board the ships, saying: "They seem to be in control and are acting aggressively towards the inspectors."

Last year, Eva Skog Haslom, a senior Swedish naval commander, said that some oil tankers linked to Russia in the Baltic Sea were carrying "antennas and masts not normally used" on commercial vessels.

The Boracay made headlines when it was carrying a shipment of Russian oil to India. Two days after leaving Primorsk, on September 22, the ship was off the coast of Denmark.

This occurred in conjunction with the monitoring of a series of marches that disrupted traffic at Copenhagen Airport, and other marches flew near Danish military bases.

A Western intelligence source said: "The timing of the incident with the ship's presence in the area is suspicious."

Days after these incidents, the French army boarded the "Boracay" off the coast of Brittany in northwest France, after it failed to provide proof of the ship's nationality, but no drones were found on board, while it turned out that there were two Russians among the crew, who were questioned separately.

The Chinese captain was arrested by the authorities, and French authorities later charged him with "disobeying instructions".

"Moran"

In comments to CNN, Alexei Badikov, who identified himself as deputy director of the Moran Group, said, "It is absolutely insane that the oil tanker would launch drones over Denmark."

He added, "If you want to use drones, you will use them from fishing boats... not from a huge oil tanker because that is not technically safe and no one will do it."

Moran was founded in 2009 and has close ties to the Russian military and intelligence services. Two of the company's former directors, Yevgeny Sidorov and Vadim Gusev, founded Slavonic Legion in 2013, the private military company from which Wagner emerged.

Images of members of the Moran group appeared on Wagner's Telegram channels while they were at sea, and the social media accounts of some of the company's members also show their connection to Wagner. The company also participated in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia more than 10 years ago.

Moran says on its website that it is looking for "active-duty or retired officers who have served in special forces units and completed at least two missions."

The company's president is Vyacheslav Kalashnikov, a retired colonel from the Russian Federal Security Service, and two of the directors listed on its website are former nuclear submarine commanders.

Moran advertises a wide range of services such as international logistics, maritime and land physical security, as well as intelligence operations.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s designation last year noted that the company “provides armed security services and operates under contracts with Russian state-owned companies” such as Sovcomflot, a state-owned shipping company.