From High North News, December 18:
One third of Arctic shipping traffic along the Northern Sea Route involves sanctioned vessels of Russia’s shadow fleet, a new report warns. The figures include 38 sanctioned oil tankers, often poorly maintained and insured and frequently without ice-classification. Russian officials have also stopped publishing data about activity on the route, further reducing available information and increasing risk.
The effects of the Ukraine War and Western sanctions against Russia continue to propagate into the Arctic.
A new report by the Bellona Foundation, an international environmental NGO based in Oslo, has found that during the past year 100 sanctioned vessels, often aging and poorly insured, have used Russia’s Northern Sea Route.
This figure is up from just 13 during 2024.
The Bellona figures highlight how Russia’s hopes of turning its Arctic shipping lane into an international corridor used by established Western operators have all but evaporated.
Nearly a third of cargo ships sailing on the NSR in 2025 were part of the sanctioned shadow fleet.
The report emphasizes that these vessels sail under false flags, disengage their AIS transponder in violation of international safety standards and frequently carry insufficient insurance.
“All of which boosts the risk of accidents in the vulnerable Arctic environment,” the Bellona research warns. In addition the majority of vessels does not have an ice class, further enhancing the risk of accidents.
Several dozen shadow oil tankers
This hazard is especially relevant to oil tankers. Bellona counted 38 sanctioned oil tankers passing through the Arctic this year, of which 13 did not have any or only low ice-classification.More than half of the tankers were older than 15 years, the age that reputable operators traditionally scrap their vessels.
“The Mires vessel has no ice class. This 20-year-old tanker sailed through NSR once this year in September from China to St. Petersburg. The ship didn’t engage an ice breaker escort,” the report explains.
The vessel operators simply hoped they would encounter favorable ice conditions, Bellona criticizes.
Especially this year, when sea ice never fully melted along the NSR, sending a non ice-class tanker without icebreaker escort could be considered grossly negligent....
....MUCH MORE
There are a couple different routes to China and India:
—from India's Defence Research and Studies, 2023
Also at High North News, December 19:
Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Agreement for 2026: "Noteworthy," says researcherOur last visit to High North News was December 12's "Denmark Sees US As Potential Security Concern".
