Russia transported approximately €3.7 billion worth of crude oil through Ireland’s maritime territory last year on sanctioned tankers, according to intelligence collected by the Irish Naval Service.
Data for 2025 shows that 92 sanctioned vessels linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet entered Ireland’s exclusive economic zone, accounting for 207 separate passages during the year.
The ships are estimated by the navy to have carried approximately 10.2 million tonnes of cargo oil, equivalent to about 71.4 million barrels of oil, through Irish-controlled waters. The figures do not include vessels that are yet to be sanctioned but transport Russian oil to prop up Russia’s economy and fund its illegal war against Ukraine.
The figures published today underscore the growing threat posed to Ireland’s maritime territory and environment by President Putin’s shadow fleet, vessels which are notorious for flagrantly breaching the laws of the seas, having no valid insurance and travelling with their identifier transponders switched off, or spoofing their locations so they cannot be tracked by satellite.
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If an accident were to occur close to shore off the west or south coast, depending on tidal flows and location, the damage would wreak havoc on Ireland’s coastal communities, fisheries industry and marine environment. The clean-up cost of a large oil spill to the Irish taxpayer would be hundreds of millions of euros.
The Irish Naval Service is monitoring all vessels as they head towards Ireland’s exclusive economic zone from its observation centre at Haulbowline in Cork, using satellite technology. Vessels are placed under surveillance 72 hours before their anticipated arrival in Irish-controlled waters, in case the navy should be required to deploy a patrol vessel to intercept and accompany them as they pass through Irish economic waters.
The Irish Naval Service keeps tabs on Russian vessels
CATHAL NOONAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Ships with their location transponders switched off are also being located by patrol vessels or C295 maritime patrol aircraft, which operate from Casement Aerodrome in Dublin. The patrol aircraft are armed with powerful radar that enables them to detect surface vessels on the high seas.
The Irish Military Intelligence Service, which protects Ireland from external threats, is also monitoring these vessels in case they should be used for sabotage, intelligence gathering or launching drones to interfere with flights. IMIS is liaising with Nato and other European military forces.
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An investigation by The Sunday Times published on Saturday reveals the sheer scale of Russian oil exports passing through European waters. Since 2022, Russian tankers have shipped 550 million tonnes of oil, about four billion barrels, through the English Channel, worth an estimated €275 billion. Over a four-year period, 9,584 voyages were recorded through the Strait of Dover, with numbers rising sharply after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Most of Russia’s oil now flows to India and China, bypassing western sanctions. Exports to India grew from 29 million tonnes in 2022 to 71.1 million tonnes in 2024, equivalent to 521 million barrels, while shipments to China surged from 10.2 million tonnes to 18.9 million tonnes, worth €24.3 billion over the same period.
This analysis is based on data supplied by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Helsinki-based think tank, which has recorded every oil export from Russia since it invaded Ukraine four years ago. The think tank tracks shipments of oil exports from Russia using a variety of sources and metrics, including historic and live automatic identification system data, customs data and its own models to estimate volumes.
Petras Katinas, an analyst at the think tank, said Russian shadow fleet vessels posed a significant risk to the environment.
Petras Katinas
ELECTROMAGNETICO
“They have already been involved in accidents but those vessels were empty. One basically exploded,” he said. “The biggest question we need to ask is, who will pay for clean-up if there is an oil spill? Because we don’t know anything about these vessels, we don’t know anything about their insurance. We don’t know who the insurance companies are and if they have the ability to cover clean-up costs.
“If something happens near the shores of the EU, and if there is no clear insurance, no transparent insurance, then it means that probably these countries will pay for clean-up costs. And it will be in hundreds of millions.”
The UK government is said to be considering seizing Russian vessels in the English Channel when legally possible, a move that could redirect even more shadow fleet shipments toward the hazardous waters off Ireland’s west coast, raising the risk of accidents and environmental damage.
Other European countries have already scaled up action against Russia’s shadow fleet. French commandos stormed the Grinch, a sanctioned oil tanker in the Mediterranean, and interrogated its crew as they passed through waters between Spain and Morocco after loading up with Russian oil at the Arctic port of Murmansk.
The ship’s route took it around Norway and between Shetland and the Faroe Islands, where it appears to have narrowly avoided British waters, but it passed through Ireland’s exclusive economic zone heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar, where it was seized.
The interception took place after President Zelensky of Ukraine urged European nations to be more bold in challenging Russia’s shadow fleet, which pumps billions of pounds into the Kremlin’s war machine. More interceptions by Nato in the Mediterranean are anticipated in the coming months, according to military sources.