TWO oil tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet are now burning in the Back Sea after they were allegedly struck by drones.
Flames and thick smoke were seen rising after blasts rocked the two vessels near Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait.
Turkey’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said the first tanker, the Gambian-flagged Kairos, caught fire in the Black Sea.
It was seen burning approximately 28 miles off the coast of Turkey‘s Kocaeli province.
Authorities blamed the fire on an external impact, without providing details.
“The Kairos was sailing empty toward Russia‘s Novorossiysk port,” they said.
Within the hour, the maritime authority reported that a second tanker called Virat was struck while sailing in the Black Sea about 35 nautical miles off the Turkish coast.
Rescue teams were dispatched to the scene to assist.
All 25 crew aboard the Kairos were safely evacuated, Kocaeli Gov. Ilhami Aktas said, adding that efforts to extinguish the fire were continuing.
“A large fire is taking place,” he said.
Maenwhile, all 20 crew members aboard the Virat were safe, although heavy smoke was reported in the engine room, the maritime authority said.
Aktas did not confirm what caused the fires, including whether they may have been struck by sea mines.
He said the authorities would issue a clearer statement once their inquiries are completed.
Haberturk television reported that the tankers may have been attacked by drones that operate on the water’s surface.
Several naval mines have been located and destroyed in the Black Sea since the start of Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The mines were placed by both sides to protect the coastline.
Other local TV outlets reported that Mayday calls were issued by the tankers after they were struck in the Black Sea.
Putin’s notorious ‘Shadow Fleet’
Russia’s “shadow fleet” refers to a covert network of ageing oil tankers used to bypass international sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine.
These sanctions, including price caps on Russian oil, aim to curtail Moscow’s revenues.
However, the shadow fleet allows Russia to continue exporting oil globally while avoiding Western controls.
This fleet is composed of older, poorly maintained vessels often operating without reputable Western insurance, relying instead on obscure providers or none at all.
To evade detection, the fleet employs tactics such as turning off tracking systems, falsifying location data, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers at sea to disguise the oil’s origin.
Its opaque operations and lack of oversight create vulnerabilities for maritime safety and international law enforcement.
The maritime authority posted distant shots of smoke rising from the area where the Kairos caught fire.
The VesselFinder website showed the Virat was anchored north of the Bosphorus, not far from its current position, on November 4.
The Kairos’ last position was on November 26, south of the Dardanelles Strait connecting the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
The US sanctioned the Virat in January this year, followed by the EU, Switzerland, the UK and Canada, according to the OpenSanctions website.
Similarly, the EU sanctioned Kairos in July this year, followed by the UK and Switzerland.
Russia‘s shadow tanker fleet continues to provide multibillion-dollar revenues for the Kremlinbypassing sanctions, disguising its activities under the flags of third countries.
They often use complex schemes to conceal owners and pose significant environmental threats, OpenSanctions says on its website entry on Kairos.
The Virat, built in 2018, uses irregular and high-risk shipping practices and has previously sailed under the flags of Barbados, Comoros, Liberia and Panama, OpenSanctions says.
The Kairos, formerly flagged as Panamanian, Greek and Liberian, was built in 2002.
Ukraine‘s military intelligence service, the GUR, says on its website that both ships visit Russian ports and have a history of shutting off their automatic identification systems, which transmit a ship’s position.