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*Shadow Fleet Sabotage: Sweden Seizes Russian Gun-Runner as UK Insures Putin's War*

Russia’s Shadow Fleet is exploding in size, bypassing sanctions and sabotaging undersea cables. As Sweden boards the sanctioned Adler and UK insurers are exposed, we ask: Is the West funding its own enemy?

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*THE ANGLE: THE GHOST ARMADA THREATENING THE WEST*

While the global elite pat themselves on the back for "tough" sanctions, a massive, dilapidated armada is sailing right under their noses, keeping Vladimir Putin’s war machine fully funded and operational. We are talking about Russia's "Shadow Fleet"—a constellation of 900 to 1,200 aging vessels that has effectively neutralized the G7 oil price cap. But it gets worse. These aren’t just oil tankers anymore; they are weapons of hybrid warfare, and the latest incidents in the Baltic Sea prove the time for caution is over.

*SWEDEN TAKES THE GLOVES OFF*

Finally, a NATO ally is showing some spine. Swedish customs, backed by coast guard and police forces, stormed the Russian-flagged freighter Adler in the Kattegat this week. The official story? The ship had "engine trouble" and anchored in Swedish territorial waters. But let’s look at the reality. The Adler is a known sanctions-buster owned by M Leasing LLC—an entity sanctioned by the U.S. and EU—and is suspected of running munitions from North Korea to the Ukrainian front.

Unlike the feckless approach we often see from Brussels, Sweden didn't wave them through. They utilized the "sovereignty of territorial seas." Because the Adler dropped anchor, it was no longer in "innocent passage." It was subject to Swedish jurisdiction. This is the blueprint. This follows Finland’s seizure of the *Eagle S*, a shadow tanker caught dragging its anchor to sever the Estlink-2 undersea power cable. This isn’t clumsy seamanship, folks; it is calculated sabotage of critical infrastructure, and the Baltic states are finally waking up to the threat.

*THE WESTERN BETRAYAL: INSURING THE INVASION*

Here is the dirty secret no one in London wants to talk about. While the UK talks a big game about supporting Ukraine, British insurers are underwriting the very invasion they claim to oppose. A stunning report reveals that since the price cap began, 33% of Russian oil by volume has been transported on tankers insured in the UK. That is €46.4 billion worth of oil revenue flowing directly into the Kremlin’s war chest, facilitated by the City of London.

How do they get away with it? It’s called "attestation fraud." These shadow operators hand over a piece of paper promising they sold the oil below $60 a barrel, and the insurers look the other way. It is a massive money laundering operation for physical goods, and it is happening with Western complicity.

*THE LEGAL SHELL GAME*

The evasion tactics are sophisticated. These ships operate under a web of "brass plate" shell companies in jurisdictions like the Seychelles and the UAE. They use fraudulent flags—hacking registries to fly the flag of Malawi or hopping identities from Jaguar to Blint to Nasledie to confuse trackers. They turn off their transponders and conduct ship-to-ship transfers in the middle of the ocean to wash the oil’s origin.

But the tools to stop them exist. The 2005 SUA Protocol criminalizes the transport of WMDs and biological weapons, creating a "broken taillight" strategy for the high seas. If a ship is stateless, or if it poses an environmental disaster risk—like the single-hull ticking time bombs in this fleet—coastal states have the right to intervene.

*THE BOTTOM LINE*

The Adler detention proves that enforcement is possible when political will exists. Sweden is remilitarizing Gotland, turning that strategic island back into a fortress to lock down the Baltic. But as long as Western insurers are taking premiums from Putin’s ghost fleet, and as long as European leaders fear "escalation" more than they fear defeat, this shadow war will continue to bleed the West dry. The "innocent passage" of these saboteurs is anything but innocent.