Russia Starts Using Private Military Companies to Guard ‘Shadow Fleet’

Russia has started placing former mercenaries and intelligence operatives on vessels from the so-called “shadow fleet” that transport Russian oil.

The Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, together with Delfi and the international investigative journalism center Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), identified 17 individuals on “shadow fleet” ships operating in the Gulf of Finland who have no maritime qualifications.

According to the report, these mercenaries oversee and control the ships’ crews.

The investigation found that 12 of them may have links to the Wagner Group mercenary organization or to Russia’s military intelligence.

Representatives of several Western military and civilian intelligence agencies, including Finland’s security service, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, confirmed the findings about the presence of so-called “security teams” on the vessels.

Finland’s security service, Supo, told the media that Russian “security personnel” placed among the crews could, in some cases, serve as a link between the “shadow fleet” and the Russian armed forces, which have increased their presence in the Baltic Sea.

Swedish outlet SVT Nyheter also received information from national intelligence indicating that employees of private military companies are working on these vessels.

“We see that personnel from private military companies are working on board these ships, including security coordinators. But precisely because these are private companies, they cannot be separated from the state when it comes to Russia,” an intelligence source told SVT.

The source added that such activity is not illegal since the ships operate in international waters, but intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the situation.

“There are reports of armed personnel in uniform, as well as claims that mannequins imitating armed individuals are being placed on these ships,” the intelligence service shared.

On March 7, Swedish special forces and the Coast Guard carried out a large-scale operation, Operation Svart Kaffe, to seize the vessel Caffa in the Baltic Sea.

In July 2025, the ship loaded stolen grain in occupied Sevastopol. Later in the summer, the vessel changed its flag from Russian to Guinean in an attempt to conceal its activities.