Europe could stop over a third of oil smuggling, espionage ships: report
Due to a new interpretation of maritime law, the Netherlands and other European countries can stop over a third of the vessels in the Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan “shadow fleet” - tankers with which these countries evade EU oil sanctions and perform espionage activities. At least 500 of these vessels sail without a valid flag, making them stateless and enabling European countries to act, according to research by Pointer, Follow the Money, and other international partners.
Russia’s shadow fleet is the funding engine for its war economy. Month after month, they evade European sanctions and ship Russian oil to ocuntries ike India, the United Arab Emirates, and China, earning Vladimir Putin’s regime billions.
Under maritime law, ships are allowed to navigate freely through countries’ exclusive economic zones. But a reinterpretation of Article 110 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea offers opportunities to act against ships sailing without a valid flag.
According to a EU statement in December, these ships are stateless and, therefore, cannot invoke maritime law. That means that, unlike ships with a valid flag, they are “not entitled to the freedoms of the high seas.” And “any State may inspect them on the high seas when there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have no nationality.”
The researchers examined 1,398 oil and gas tankers using data from the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO). They found that 539 of these tankers are operating without a flag or under a false flag. That amounts to 38.5 percent of the entire shadow fleet.
In June last year, the Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, and the UK, among others, declared that they would take joint action against these smuggling tankers.
But so far, little has been done, the researchers found. Between 1 November 2025 and 1 February 2026, 61 shadow fleet tankers sailed unhindered through European water, including 20 oil and gas tankers that sailed through the North Sea for Russia.
A spokesperson for the Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management and Justice and Security told Pointer that the Netherlands is still getting the legislation in place to act against these tankers. A legislative amendment should make it possible to systematically inspect shadow fleet vessels under false flags, escort them to an anchorage, and, in extreme cases, seize them.
The amendment will be submitted to parliament before the summer, and then the Senate still has to review and vote on it. It will take months at least before this amendment is implemented.
