Europe has significantly escalated its enforcement against Russia's shadow fleet tankers, with Cameroon dumping 39 vessels from its ship registry after discovering fraudulent operations. According to Reuters, on June 8 the EU expanded Operation IRINI's mandate to include stopping, boarding, detaining and inspecting ships suspected of belonging to Russia's shadow fleet. Three tankers recently boarded by IRINI - the Nelsa, Oneiroi and Sandhya - were found to be using fraudulent Cameroonian registration. The latest shadow fleet tanker seized was the Deliver, detained by the French navy on June 25 after being intercepted near Sicily, despite having been removed from Cameroon's registry. Nine other ships have been seized by French, Belgian, British and Swedish navies since the start of 2026, including five with Cameroonian flags.
Russia has responded to increased European interceptions of its shadow fleet by arming tankers with automated machineguns and other weapons systems. According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), surveillance images from Estonian authorities show a Russian civilian tanker equipped with an automated machinegun at a sandbag-protected post on the Baltic Sea. The weaponry represents a significant escalation in Russia's efforts to counter European enforcement actions against its sanctions-evading maritime operations. As Joshua Hutchinson, managing director of intelligence and risk at maritime security firm Ambrey, told The National: "This is evidence of implementation. It's the first time this has been documented."
The surveillance operations targeted high-value military installations across multiple European countries. Germany recorded the highest number of incidents with 58 drone sightings, followed by 25 over Belgium, 16 over Denmark, 9 over the Netherlands, 8 over France, and 7 each in the United Kingdom and Norway. According to the report, drones appeared over strategic facilities including Ramstein Air Base in Germany, RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, Kleine-Brogel Air Base in Belgium, and Ile Longue, France's nuclear submarine base. The U.S. Air Force in Europe reported multiple sightings of drones over four American air bases in the U.K. in November 2024, while German authorities recorded more than 1,000 suspicious drone sightings in 2025, including over defense companies and military bases where Ukrainian soldiers were training. The IISS notes that the incursions over important U.S. bases came just days after then President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the long awaited all-clear to use long range missiles to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.
Cameroon has emerged as a major conduit for fraudulent shipping operations, prompting the United Arab Emirates in 2024 to bar Cameroon-flagged ships from calling at its ports unless they have top-tier safety certification. In a letter to the U.N. shipping agency dated June 16, Cameroon's government revealed that an official investigation found several vessels were unlawfully operating under the country's flag and that two websites were fraudulently being used to assign the flag to ships. The central African country's transport ministry stated it is "cooperating with international authorities and organisations to enforce maritime rules, protect the credibility of its naval registry, and fight against irregular registrations." The EU is preparing further sanctions for mid-July targeting the shadow fleet, with 30 more vessels from Russia's shadow fleet to be listed and expanded criteria to include vessels involved in refuelling sanctioned ships or offloading cargo.
The drone campaign has had significant civilian aviation disruptions, with Copenhagen Airport closure on September 22 being one of the most notable incidents. According to the IISS report, several shadow ships were in the area at the time, including the Arctica and Boracay. On January 3, 2025, as the shadow fleet vessel Arctica sailed along the Danish coast, up to 20 drones flew over the port of Koege, Denmark, before disappearing toward the sea. The report cited other sightings that occurred when shadow fleet ships were nearby, including when the Vezhen shadow ship sailed in circles off the coast of Ireland on December 2, 2025, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived for his first official visit. The Royal Air Force has recently deployed its Counter-Uncrewed Aerial System to Belgium in response to rogue drones interrupting flights at Brussels Airport, following deployment to Denmark just a month earlier.
The IISS report reveals significant gaps in European air defense capabilities, with Lt. Gen. Jonny Lindfors, Sweden's military representative to NATO, noting that "it would be naive to believe it's just a coincidence" given the frequency of incursions. Denmark's Defense Command acknowledged in a June report that "the armed forces could have been in a stronger position" to respond to drone sightings and identified shortcomings in equipment used to detect them. Following the incidents, Denmark and several other European countries said they would boost their drone defenses. Air Chief Marshal John Stringer, NATO's deputy supreme allied commander in Europe, told AP that countries are taking drone threats increasingly seriously, with many realizing that counterdrone systems are critical parts of air defense. The campaign represents an airborne version of the Soviet military concept of 'reconnaissance by battle,' designed to compel adversaries to reveal operational details without triggering military response. However, some experts question the report's findings, with Dronewatch Europe noting that "the report does not present physical evidence linking any specific drone to any specific vessel."
