Sweden has detained a tanker belonging to the Russian shadow fleet — it is under sanctions

The Swedish Coast Guard, together with the Swedish police, have detained and boarded the Russian shadow fleet tanker Jin Hui. Law enforcement officials believe it is flying a foreign flag.

This was reported by the Swedish Coast Guard and the Minister of Civil Defense , Karl-Oskar Bolin.

The tanker was detained on May 3 at 3:00 PM outside Kyiv in the Baltic Sea. It was flying the Syrian flag and was likely empty. Its destination is unknown.

According to the GUR MO, the shipʼs real flag is Panamanian. From December 2025 to February 2026, it was subject to sanctions by the European Union, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. In addition to Russian ports, the ship called at ports in India, Algeria, Chile, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, eastern Libya, Panama, and Cyprus.

What is known about the Russian shadow fleet?

In early December 2022, the G7 members, as well as Australia and the EU, imposed price caps on Russian oil, setting a maximum price of $60 per barrel. In January 2026, the European Union reported a reduction in the price of Russian oil to $44.1 per barrel from February 1, 2026.

To circumvent oil sanctions, Russia has begun to form a shadow fleet. This is a fleet of old tankers that turn off their beacons so that they cannot be seen by surveillance systems. They are operated mostly by the Russian state company “Suchkomflot”. With its help, the Russian Federation transports an estimated 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, which brings large profits to the Kremlin.

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