Russia was aware that any sanctions against their country would result in a need to control tankers to export crude and processed oil.
[6] in January 2024 the 18 year old sanctioned Peria had an anchor malfunction, leaving the ship stranded in the Bosphorus, closing all traffic.
Gabon has more than doubled its ships registry in 2023 with an estimated 98% of tankers considered high risk with no identifiable owner.
[18] The vessel was seized by Finnish authorities in the aftermath as the Estonian Navy launched an operation to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.
[19] On 20 December 2023 the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against three companies that have traded Russian oil that had been sold at a price that did not comply with the price cap rules, including Voliton DMCC from the UAE and Bellatrix Energy Limited and Covart Energy Limited of Hong Kong.
[24][25] Two boats believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet caused an oil spill with severe environmental damage in the Black Sea in December 2024 due to the negligence by their Russian operators.
[26] Following the major environmental crisis caused by the ships, the worst this century in the Black Sea region, Ukraine called for the international community to take action to deter the fleet.
[3] On 16 December 2024, twelve countries consisting of Britain, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) and the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) agreed to cooperate to "disrupt and deter" Russia's shadow fleet to prevent sanctions breaches.