In the past 10 days, at least three Russian oil tankers have disappeared from radars off the coast of the Azores, off the Portuguese coast. Ships with the Moscow-flag are suspected of closing systems forced by international navigation standards to be used to monitor global maritime traffic.
The news agency reported Bloomberg It is suspected that they are transferring cargo to other non-Russian ships and the ‘blackout’ prevents such activities from being known. This tactic will help to persuade some buyers to do business in order to avoid international sanctions imposed on Russia.
Disabling the ship’s surveillance signal – also known as “dark operation” passing – has been flagged by the US Treasury Department as one of the many methods used to circumvent sanctions in the maritime sector caused by sanctions arising from Russia’s invasion. Ukraine. By leaving location data inactive, a ship can hide other details about its destination or the ship’s movements.
Since the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia, many oil tankers have ‘disappeared’ in the Atlantic Ocean. For example, at the end of May, the ship Gen I transferred its cargo to the supernatural Lauren II, 300 nautical miles off the island of Madeira.
This equipment is not only used by cargo ships. An investigation by Britain’s Observer newspaper in May found that at least six super boats associated with UK – licensed Russian oligarchs had disappeared from location radars. The system may be disabled for legitimate reasons, but experts believe some ships may want to cover up the location to avoid being hijacked.
