Lloyd’s List analysis suggests 40 suspicious vessels joined Russian registry last year, with 17 reflagged last month
Forty ships accused of belonging to a large “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil for Venezuela and others were reflagged to Russia last year in an apparent attempt to gain Kremlin protection from American seizure.
Analysis by the shipping intelligence publication Lloyd’s List suggests that of those, at least 17 suspicious vessels joined the Russian registry over the past month, compared with 15 ships in the previous five months of 2025.
The sudden flurry of activity appears to be linked to Donald Trump’s announcement last month of what he called a US “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers in and out of Venezuela.
The term “shadow fleet” is defined by Lloyd’s List as ships for which deceptive practices are used in order to allow them to transport goods – including oil and gas – in violation of sanctions and price caps.
