Documentary by Caolan Robertson about Russian Shadow-Fleet, historic context, sanction evasion, and current developments (YouTube, 20 min)

In this documentary, I investigate how the Shadow Fleet works, why it was allowed to grow so large, and why the response from the West came so late. I travel to the Aegean Islands to document sanctioned Russian tankers operating just kilometres from European shores, and examine how these vessels fund a war being fought in Europe.

I also look back at the history of Russia’s use of civilian cargo ships for military purposes, from the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and later to Syria, where cargo vessels supplied the Assad regime through the port of Tartus.

The film includes interviews with Bill Browder, one of the leading experts on sanctions and Russian financial networks, as well as senior European officials and investigative journalists who have spent years tracking the Shadow Fleet’s operations.