> Do we start sinking Russian flagged tankers in international waters?
Absolutely not. But in cases where the ship was originally identified with faulty registration and is otherwise behaving suspiciously, it’s fair to forcibly board.
That said! This will vary based on what’s on that ship. If it’s drone killers, that’s annoying but fine. If it’s anti-ship missiles, that’s putting American sailors at risk.
sleepguy’s comment mentions the fact that Russia has converted its shadow fleet from simply a commodity transfer system to a military asset, so while I respect the caution, not only do I agree with drone killers (as Ukraine has been successful with), I think it’s also fine to start sinking these vessels from a safe distance with US military platforms (ideally subs, sufficiently advanced that sailors won’t be at harm against decrepit tankers, but something that can deliver a Tomahawk works as well from a cost efficiency perspective). Someone’s going to run out of rounds first, and it isn’t the US (in this scenario). Don’t seize them, just sink them. They’ll run out of tankers eventually.
It's a long sail for China to do anything about it for Venezuela and Russia, neither of which are in any position to do anything about it. Venezuela in particular will face economic collapse if the US can force further oil well shut ins by maintaining its naval blockade, impairing Venezuela's petroleum revenue stream via exports and longer term production.
Tangentially, if shadow fleet capacity is impaired sufficiently to incur the same export capacity reductions in Russia (with an emphasis on Siberia), it could take at least one to two decades for those wells to be brought back online.
This tanker is carrying weapons for delivery. Russia is using it's tanker fleet as spy ships (drones over EU from Baltic Sea), cutting under sea cables (Finland has charged a Russian crew), delivering weapons (tanker fleeing US Coast Guard), moving agents abroad (ship sunk in Mediterranean by Ukraine last week), and even trying to send nuclear reactor/engines to North Korea for their submarines (ship sunk by torpedo near the straights of Gibraltar).
They need to be blocked entirely from the worlds Oceans, cut of from leaving any ports in Russia or hunted when leaving ports from Africa.
https://archive.today/OTZNO
It would seem pretty obvious the Venezuelan government will shift oil shipments to Russian flagged vessels.
Do we start sinking Russian flagged tankers in international waters? Preferably unloaded, when possible.
Inside China’s Shadow LNG Fleet Offering a Lifeline to Putin - https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-china-russia-lng-sha... | https://archive.today/9dehG - December 29th, 2025
A Warning From Onboard the ‘Old Piles of Junk’ Ferrying Russia’s Oil Across the Baltic Sea - https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-russia-shadow-oil-fl... | https://archive.today/jpSjX - August 22nd, 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_shadow_fleet
> Do we start sinking Russian flagged tankers in international waters?
Absolutely not. But in cases where the ship was originally identified with faulty registration and is otherwise behaving suspiciously, it’s fair to forcibly board.
That said! This will vary based on what’s on that ship. If it’s drone killers, that’s annoying but fine. If it’s anti-ship missiles, that’s putting American sailors at risk.
sleepguy’s comment mentions the fact that Russia has converted its shadow fleet from simply a commodity transfer system to a military asset, so while I respect the caution, not only do I agree with drone killers (as Ukraine has been successful with), I think it’s also fine to start sinking these vessels from a safe distance with US military platforms (ideally subs, sufficiently advanced that sailors won’t be at harm against decrepit tankers, but something that can deliver a Tomahawk works as well from a cost efficiency perspective). Someone’s going to run out of rounds first, and it isn’t the US (in this scenario). Don’t seize them, just sink them. They’ll run out of tankers eventually.
Alarm over ‘exploding’ rise in use of sanctions-busting shadow fleet - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/21/alarm-over-exp... - December 21st, 2025
Sweden Confirms Armed Guards Aboard Russian Shadow Tankers - https://gcaptain.com/sweden-confirms-armed-guards-aboard-rus... - December 16th, 2025
They sure didn’t like it when the Germans and Japanese were going around sinking U.S. flagged vessels in the 1940s.
It's a long sail for China to do anything about it for Venezuela and Russia, neither of which are in any position to do anything about it. Venezuela in particular will face economic collapse if the US can force further oil well shut ins by maintaining its naval blockade, impairing Venezuela's petroleum revenue stream via exports and longer term production.
Tangentially, if shadow fleet capacity is impaired sufficiently to incur the same export capacity reductions in Russia (with an emphasis on Siberia), it could take at least one to two decades for those wells to be brought back online.
Venezuela Oil Output Slows 25% in Orinoco Belt Under US Pressure - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-31/venezuela... | https://archive.today/wUsmE - December 31, 2025
Ghost Busters: Options for Breaking Russia’s Shadow Fleet - https://www.csis.org/analysis/ghost-busters-options-breaking... - December 15th, 2025
How Venezuela’s aging Soviet-era military stacks up against US forces in the Caribbean - https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/13/americas/venezuela-military-u... - November 13th, 2025
This tanker is carrying weapons for delivery. Russia is using it's tanker fleet as spy ships (drones over EU from Baltic Sea), cutting under sea cables (Finland has charged a Russian crew), delivering weapons (tanker fleeing US Coast Guard), moving agents abroad (ship sunk in Mediterranean by Ukraine last week), and even trying to send nuclear reactor/engines to North Korea for their submarines (ship sunk by torpedo near the straights of Gibraltar).
They need to be blocked entirely from the worlds Oceans, cut of from leaving any ports in Russia or hunted when leaving ports from Africa.
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