Dubai has become a huge hub for the “shadow fleet” of the Russian Federation – media

The United Arab Emirates has emerged as an important hub for Russia’s shadow fleet, with companies registered there owning at least 55 Western-sanctioned vessels. This is stated in the investigation, published on Saturday, January 11, by the Finnish publication Yle.

It is known that the Eagle S vessel, suspected of damaging the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia, is also owned by a Dubai company.

Journalists have studied the origins of 149 Russian “shadow fleet” ships that are on the Western sanctions list. The investigation shows that Russia has created an extensive international network to evade economic sanctions.

The “shadow fleet” is mainly used to transport oil and gas from Russia under the flags of countries not subject to sanctions.

In particular, the names of ships, flags and owners used in the Russian Federation are constantly changing. About a third of the courts surveyed by journalists changed their names within a month or so of the punishments. Almost the same number of vessels changed owners and management companies responsible for their activities. More than a fifth of the ships transferred to other flags.

Journalists believe the numbers are likely to be even higher as the EU and UK added dozens of tankers to their sanctions lists after mid-December.

It was found that the proprietary companies are located not only in Dubai, but also in India, China, as well as in small island states, where it is easy to hide the true ownership relationship.

Let’s remember that the day before the United States imposed large-scale sanctions against Russian oil and Russia’s “shadow fleet”.