Russia is feared to be preparing false flag attacks on its shadow fleet of sea vessels in order to deter the West from further sanctioning them.
According to reports from the SVR, Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, is said to have claimed that the UK was plotting to attack the country’s fleet of ships used to subvert sanctions.
The SVR said that the attacks would be designed to look like accidents, causing significant environmental damage and allowing Britain and the rest of NATO to justify further actions against them.
The Telegraph reported it claimed: ‘British intelligence services are planning to use NATO allies to launch a mass raid on the “shadow fleet”; for this purpose, an ecological catastrophe in international waters is being prepared.’
But experts said the report’s publication raised concerns that Russia is preparing its own false flag operation, a scheme carried out by the Kremlin but designed to look like it has British origins.
Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at RUSI, told the newspaper: ‘One interpretation might be that the Russians are insuring themselves against something breaking down or sinking, in a way that creates a pretext for restricting [their movement across the ocean].’
So far at least six tankers have suffered mysterious explosions since the start of the year.
The suspicion has largely fallen on Ukraine, as all of the tankers were docked in Russian ports. Some of them were carrying Russian oil.
It comes after the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned UK financial firms that Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures in order to evade sanctions.
Britain has banned the maritime transportation of Russian oil as its energy exports are funding the war in Ukraine.
In 2024, 30 per cent of Russia’s federal budget came from oil and gas sales.
But Russian oil trading companies are managing to circumvent sanctions to get Western cash which is continuing to fund the Russian state, investigators believe.
One of the companies sanctioned last year used over 100 Shadow Fleet oil tankers, vessels which are usually over 15 years old which secretly carry Russian oil.
To avoid detection, flags are regularly changed and the ship’s automatic identification system is turned off to avoid its movements being tracked, while the oil is often transferred from one ship to another to obscure its origin before the shipment reaches its destination.
Over 400 Shadow Fleet vessels have so far been sanctioned by the UK, EU, US and Canada.
An NCA spokesman said: ‘Today, the National Crime Agency has issued an alert to financial institutions and other members of the UK regulated sector in relation to the sale of Russian oil and gas through the use of Shadow Fleet vessels and front companies.
‘Sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine have had a significant impact on its ability to sell oil and gas it produces.
‘However, in an effort to circumvent these controls, Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures to evade sanctions whilst accessing Western finance and professional services in order to continue to fund the Russian state.’
