The Russian oil tankers are said to have managed to hide their passage while Moscow is facing unprecedented sanctions from the West.
According to data from Windward, an Israeli consulting firm specializing in maritime risk monitoring, Russian tankers turned off their tracking systems at least 33 times last week. This is more than double the weekly average for the past 14 years.
Windward said that the "shadow operations" of Russian tankers mainly took place in the area in and around the country's exclusive economic zone.
International maritime law requires commercial ships to have automatic identification systems (AIS) turned on when operating at sea. The US Treasury Department considers disabling or tampering with a ship's identification system as fraud to avoid sanctions.
"There's no reason they should turn off AIS. Investigating a vessel for illegal shipping is crucial to protecting a business from dealing with sanctioned entities." , said Gur Sender, Windward's program manager.
Since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, the US, UK and its allies have stepped up sanctions against Russia. The Kremlin admits Russia is experiencing an economic "shock" due to "unprecedented" Western sanctions.
US President Joe Biden issued a ban on Russian oil and gas imports on March 8, while the same day Britain said it would stop importing Russian oil by the end of the year. Both the US and UK, along with Canada, also banned Russian ships from docking.
According to Ian Ralby, chief executive officer of maritime and security consulting firm I.R. Consilium, as more countries and businesses avoid trade with Russia, the Russian fleet will be under pressure to conduct "shadow operations".
While the US and UK have issued a ban on importing Russian fuel, the European Union (EU) is divided on this issue because of its too much reliance on supply from Russia. Russia's oil and gas ban will likely cause fuel prices to continue to skyrocket.
Russia has announced changes to its current gas contract, requiring countries on the "unfriendly" list to pay for Russian gas in rubles. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the decision meant that Russia would eliminate all currencies that could harm itself in such payments.
Putin said that changes in gas contracts with unfriendly countries and territories will only affect the payment currency being forced to convert to rubles. Analysts say the move is part of Russia's attempt to pressure the West to respond to sanctions.
Russia's decision to accept payments only in rubles for "unfriendly" countries and territories is said to mainly affect Europe, which is heavily dependent on energy supplies from Russia. The EU has vowed to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, but also admits this cannot happen overnight.
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