Newsweek: "Shadow Fleet" Of Russian Tankers Is Plagued By A Mysterious "disease"

Already five ships have sustained significant damage for unknown reasons.

Putin's shadow tanker fleet has begun to suffer from a mysterious "disease" - explosions that have no explanation. Experts do not rule out that it is Ukraine that has resorted to practical "sanctions," although there is no evidence, writes Newsweek.

The publication analyzes a series of explosions that have already affected five Russian tankers. The latest such episode occurred on Sunday at the port of Ust-Luga near St. Petersburg. And before that, similar explosions occurred to tankers in Russia's shadow fleet in ports or off the coasts of Libya, Italy and Syria.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for these incidents, but media outlets have noted that Ukrainian intelligence services often conduct covert operations against Russian interests.

Olga Polishchuk of the analyst firm ACLED told Newsweek that "it is not foolish to assume Ukrainian involvement" in these explosions. After all, these tankers are involved in economic support for Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, and Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Russian oil refineries.

"Given the scale of previous attacks, the location of the current attack and the nature of the target, it is reasonable to assume Ukrainian involvement, although there are other possible reasons," Polischuk said.

Interestingly, all five of the affected tankers did not only call at Russian ports recently, they also passed through the outer port borders of the island nation of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

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