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Europe is taking action against oil tankers falsely using the Cameroonian flag to transport Russian oil, including boarding vessels on the high seas. This has led the African country to remove 39 of these ships from its naval registry, according to officials and documents.
On June 8, the European Union (EU) extended the mandate of Operation Irini, its naval mission in the Mediterranean. It can now stop, board, detain, and inspect vessels suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet'.
The Eurasian nation has used these types of tankers - which are often older and lack known Western insurance or safety certifications - to circumvent sanctions, sailing under the flags of various countries to conceal their true ownership, cargo, and movements.
Two European military sources reported that three tankers boarded and inspected by Operation Irini in recent weeks (the Nelsa, the Oneiroi, and the Sandhya) were found to be using fraudulent Cameroonian registration.
Another nine vessels have been seized by the French, Belgian, British, and Swedish navies since the beginning of 2026, including five flying the Cameroonian flag.
The African nation has warned in recent months that its registry has been improperly used by shadow fleet tankers transporting Russian crude oil.
In a letter dated June 16 sent to the United Nations (UN) maritime agency, accessed by Reuters, the Cameroonian Government stated that an official investigation revealed that several vessels were operating illegally under its flag, which was fraudulently assigned through two websites. As a result, authorities removed 39 ships from its registry.
The Central African nation has become one of the main channels for illegal maritime transport in recent years. This led the United Arab Emirates to prohibit Cameroonian-flagged vessels from calling at its ports in 2024, unless they had top-tier safety certifications.
The African country's Ministry of Transport assured Reuters in a statement that they are "cooperating with international authorities and organizations to enforce maritime regulations, protect the credibility of their naval registry, and combat irregular registrations".
Cameroon cannot be held responsible for the activities of any vessel after it has been removed from its registry. The most recent shadow fleet tanker to be seized was the Deliver, detained by the French navy on June 25 after being intercepted near Sicily, while sailing under the Cameroonian flag despite having been removed from that country's registry.
The EU is preparing a new round of sanctions for mid-July that will target, in part, the shadow fleet. "The idea is to change best practices, what different countries are doing with these ships, because it really represents a danger and, of course, the idea is also to curb Russia's financing for this war," stated EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.
The new EU sanctions package, which could be approved in July, would add another 30 Russian shadow fleet vessels and expand the penalty criteria to include ships involved in refueling sanctioned vessels or unloading goods, according to European official sources.
Authorities warn that these vessels pose a serious danger to the safety of crews and the environment, as they often fail to comply with maintenance standards and risk breaking apart on the high seas, as happened with two Russian coastal tankers in the Black Sea at the end of 2024.
