Making the Baltic a "Shadow-Free" Zone (Brookings Paper)

A proposal to reduce Moscow's shadow fleet operations in European waters by pressuring vessels to comply with international insurance standards (May 2024)

In May 2024, this report was included in a collection of papers on Russian sanctions published by Brookings. It proposes a way to reduce Russian shadow fleet operations in European waters by pressuring vessels to comply with international insurance standards. The proposal’s central feature involves a coordinated effort by European coastal states to request proof of spill insurance from shadow tankers. The proposal also includes a deterence mechanism to be used against vessels that fail to comply.

On December 16, 2024, twelve countries from Northern Europe announced an initiative to “disrupt and deter” the shadow fleet by “requesting relevant proof of insurance” and to “assess and action upon” the information gathered.

In light of this news, some readers may be interested in learning more about Russian shadow fleet insurance and potential deterence mechanisms. While this report is already somewhat dated, readers interested in those topics may still find some value in it.