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14 Countries Move to Block Shadow Fleet Amid Rising Russian GPS Interference
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Fourteen European countries said they were tightening maritime safety and enforcement measures in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and warned that certain shadow fleet tankers could be treated as vessels without nationality, according to the UK Department for Transport on January 27.
The statement said that Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom issued the warning after publishing a joint open letter via the UK government.
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In that letter, the countries said growing interference with satellite navigation in European waters “originating from the Russian Federation” was creating “new emerging safety situations” and warned that “all vessels are at risk.”
The letter said ships must sail under the flag of only one state and carry valid documentation, including insurance or other financial security, and cited the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in stating that vessels using multiple flags “according to convenience” may be treated as “a ship without nationality.”
It was concluded that the approach would give European states a broader scope to intervene against tankers that change flags or lack required documents, including through inspections and detention.
Satellite navigation interference has been documented for years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with European aviation regulators warning of a rise in GNSS jamming and spoofing affecting areas around the war zone and disrupting civilian transport, including air and maritime navigation.
Russia and Ukraine have also treated electronic warfare as a core battlefield capability, with Ukrainian officials and companies describing widespread signal jamming that can degrade drone links and other systems reliant on satellite-based positioning and timing.
Earlier, it was reported that the European Union was evaluating new sanctions and legal measures aimed at cracking down on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers used to evade sanctions and finance the war against Ukraine, including engagement with flag states to pressure deregistration and enforcement.
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