🚨🚨🚨 If Russian naval escorts are so effective, why is the shadow fleet avoiding the English Channel? The attached 90-day AIS playback shows a clear shift in routing.

🚨🔁🇷🇺🚢👀 Russia's Baltic naval rotation continues, and so does the apparent effort to shield its shadow fleet. The ADMIRAL LEVCHENKO has reportedly deployed to the Baltic Sea, replacing the SEVEROMORSK, which maintained a presence in the region throughout June.

🚨🚨🚨 These two images sum up a scandal. An abandoned tanker from Russia's shadow fleet. An oil slick spreading. A fragile ecosystem under threat.

🚨🇪🇺🇷🇺 The EURONAVFOR IRINI strikes again on the shadow fleet! Yesterday, the tanker 🇨🇲 TAO PAYOH (IMO 9298492) was intercepted by the Italian Navy frigate ITS THAON DI REVEL west of Pantelleria island in the Mediterranean.

🚨 1 Aug: the frigate NEUSTRASHIMY was spotted alongside the intelligence collection ship V TATISHCHEV ⚠️ If a SIGINT ship is being used to compensate for the absence of a dedicated support vessel, it would raise serious questions about the 🇷🇺 Navy's ability to sustain surface deployments far from home

spectre crouton@spectrecrouton.bsky.social · 3d ago

[1/6] In April 2026, RF Navy Baltic Fleet Amur-class repair ship PM-82 began repeated resupply runs to the North Sea to support Black Sea Fleet Grigorovich-class missile frigate Admiral Grigorovich and Baltic Fleet Neustrashimyy-class frigate Neustrashimyy.

🚨🚨🚨 The most interesting part of Admiral Aleksandr Moiseyev's announcement of a 500-ton unmanned surface vessel isn't the concept itself, it's the backlash from Russia's own pro-war military community.

🚨🚨🚨 The Email Domain Linking Sovcomflot to the Shadow Fleet 🔹 Recent Sovcomflot Group recruitment ads instructed applicants to send their CVs to @techshipman.com instead of an official company email address.

🚨🚨🚨 The sanctioned Ro-Ro cargo ship 🇷🇺 BALTIC LEADER (IMO 9220639) arrived at Pointe-Noire last night. After sailing south along the West African coast without broadcasting a destination, the vessel has now reached the 🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo.

🚨 🚨 🚨 The Russian shadow fleet becomes brighter 💡 To reduce the vulnerability of its shadow fleet, Russia is increasingly abandoning flags of convenience and reflagging tankers under its own flag.

🚨🚨🚨 A Russian shadow fleet tanker abandoned off the coast of Oman is now leaking oil. The 🇨🇲 CAROLINE BEZENGI (IMO 9224439) is more than just another maritime incident. Here's why this case deserves close attention. 👇 The thread : x.com/TiaFarris10/...

Russian Forces Spotter (@TiaFarris10) on X

🚨🚨🚨 A Russian shadow fleet tanker abandoned off the coast of Oman is now leaking oil. The 🇨🇲 CAROLINE BEZENGI (IMO 9224439) is more than just another maritime incident. Here's why this case deserves...

x.com

🚨🚨🚨 A timeline worth watching. 20 July: IRINI boards 🇨🇲 SOUTH STAR (IMO: 9263186) over suspected false flag. Brief detention in La Goulette. Departure. AIS now identifies the vessel under the 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea flag. Coincidence? Administrative update? Or a direct consequence of the boarding? 🤔

🚨🚨🚨 On 25 July, Ukrainian long-range drones struck multiple maritime targets in the Caspian Sea. 🔻 A Russian Navy Project 12418 Molniya missile boat was reportedly struck.

🚨🚨🚨 After four Indian seafarers were killed aboard the MV 🇬🇼 GOLEN LEO (IMO: 9181833), India launched its Seafarer-First Initiative to better protect its merchant mariners. 📽️ GOLDEN LEO filmed sinking off Odesa on July 25.

🚨🚨🚨 Ukraine is bringing the war to Russia's ports. Last night, port infrastructure in Rostov was among Kyiv's targets. 💥

🚨🗣️🇷🇺⚓️🛟 Yesterday, President Putin portrayed the Russian Navy as a steadily growing global force. Yet one of the most striking images from Russia's Navy Day wasn't a fleet at sea, but a giant printed backdrop of a submarine. The symbolism is hard to ignore.

🚨🚨🚨 The sanctioned Ro-Ro cargo ship 🇷🇺 BALTIC LEADER (IMO 9220639) is now sailing south along the West African coast. After months operating in the Mediterranean on routes linked to Russia's military logistics network, it is now broadcasting no destination.

🚨🇷🇺🚢📈🇨🇳 The shadow fleet isn't just evolving through new vessels or ownership structures, it's also evolving through its ship managers. Aetherion Ship Management 🇨🇳 emerged in May 26 as the largest ship manager in Russia's shadow fleet, marking its entry into operations linked to Russian oil exports.

🚨🚨🚨 Russia faces growing diplomatic pressure from India after four Indian seafarers were killed. 🇮🇳 India summoned 🇷🇺 Russia's top envoy in New Delhi on 19 July following a missile strike on the cargo vessel MV 🇬🇼 GOLDEN LEO (IMO 9181833) shortly after it departed Odesa.

🚨🚨🚨 On 20 July, EU Naval Force (Operation IRINI) conducted a flag verification boarding of the tanker 🇨🇲 SOUTH STAR (IMO 9263186) under Article 110 of UNCLOS, following suspicions that it was sailing under a false flag.

🚨🚨🚨 The 🇷🇺 Russian shadow fleet keeps leaving environmental disasters in its wake. The sanctioned tanker 🇨🇲 CAROLINE BEZENGI (IMO 9224439), which ran aground off 🇴🇲 Oman in June, is now reportedly breaking up, causing a massive oil spill along the southwestern shores of Jazirat Al Qibliyyah.

🚨🇬🇧🇷🇺 The UK is stepping up enforcement against Russia's shadow fleet. After the 🇨🇲 SMYRTOS (9389100) was boarded in the English Channel on June 14, her 🇨🇳 Chinese master appeared before a UK court on July 16, where he was denied bail. His trial is set for December 15.

🚨🚢🇷🇺👀🇪🇺🇬🇧 On 20 July, the frigate 🇷🇺 NEUSTRASHIMY conducted a live-fire artillery exercise just 40 nautical miles south of Plymouth, in international waters. The exercise was closely monitored by the patrol vessel 🇬🇧 HMS TYNE, supported by 🇬🇧 RAF fighter jets and a 🇫🇷 French Navy helicopter.

🚨🇬🇦❌ Gabon has revoked Intershipping Services' authority to manage its ship registry. The decision follows UK and EU sanctions against the Dubai-based company for registering vessels involved in the 🇷🇺 oil trade, including tankers linked to Sovcomflot and shadow fleet operator Gatik Ship Management.

🚨 🚨 🚨 When 🇪🇺Europeans actions have a real effect on the 🇷🇺 Russian shadow fleet ⬇ After the boarding of SMYRTOS (IMO : 9389100) by 🇬🇧 Royal Marines, the shadow fleet use of the English Channel dropped by 40%.

🚨🚨🚨 Russia's shadow fleet doesn't operate on ships alone, it relies on people. 🚢🔎 A recent investigation found that international crewing companies posted more than 1000 recruitment ads for sailors assigned to vessels that are now under sanctions or linked to Russia's shadow fleet.

🚨🚨🚨 The sanctioned cargo ship 🇷🇺 MIKHAIL BRITNEV (IMO 9081370) departed Lome yesterday. After arriving in 🇹🇬 Lome on 9 July, MIKHAIL BRITNEV remained alongside long enough to unload military equipment, almost certainly destined for the Africa Corps.

🚨🚨🚨 The Russian frigate 🇷🇺 NEUSTRASHIMY, which departed Baltiysk on 1 July, was spotted by Sky News on 15 July in the southern North Sea.

🚨🇷🇺🚢 Russian shadow fleet losses (July 6-16): 147 vessels struck 🔻 Sea of Azov: 127 🔻 Black Sea: 20 A significant blow to Russia's maritime logistics.

🚨🚨🚨 No Russian naval vessels are currently visible in the Mediterranean. 🇷🇺🚢🌊❌ Since 2013, Russia has maintained a continuous naval presence in the region. Today, that continuity appears to have been interrupted.

🚨🚨🚨 Rostov-on-Don appears to be emerging as a key operating hub for maritime logistics in the Sea of Azov. Following recent 🇺🇦 Ukrainian strikes, AIS data suggests a growing concentration of vessels relocating from the Kerch Strait to Rostov-on-Don.