FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin Russia has become the leading flag for the shadow fleet, with around 98 sanctioned tankers reflagging to Russia in 2025 and 2026, bringing the total number of Russia-flagged shadow fleet vessels to more than 213, according to analysis by Windward. The shift follows increased Western sanctions and the interdiction of stateless tankers, pushing more vessels linked to Russian oil trades into the country’s maritime infrastructure. Windward’s analysis shows that more than one in five of the 1,000-plus tankers sanctioned by Western regulators now sail under the Russian flag. Cameroon is the second-largest flag state, accounting for 157 sanctioned tankers, followed by Sierra Leone with 98 vessels. RelatedNews Sanctioned oil tanker reportedly leaking oil off Oman Greece opposes EU LNG sanctions citing risk to European shipping var jnews_module_21378527_0_6a5f6e4812de8 = {"header_icon":"","first_title":"Related","second_title":"News","url":"","header_type":"heading_8","header_background":"","header_secondary_background":"","header_text_color":"","header_line_color":"","header_accent_color":"","header_filter_category":"","header_filter_author":"","header_filter_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_post_tag":"","header_filter_cpt_tribe_events_cat":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_category":"","header_filter_cpt_web_story_tag":"","header_filter_text":"All","sticky_post":false,"sticky_post_filter":false,"post_type":"post","content_type":"all","sponsor":false,"number_post":"2","post_offset":0,"unique_content":"unique1","include_post":"","included_only":false,"exclude_post":"21378527","include_category":"","exclude_category":"","include_author":"","include_tag":"1450,132,3803,3404","exclude_tag":"","exclude_visited_post":false,"post_tag":"","tribe_events_cat":"","web_story_category":"","web_story_tag":"","sort_by":"latest","show_date":"","date_format":"default","date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","pagination_mode":"disable","pagination_nextprev_showtext":"","paginatio