Russian shadow fleet tankers explode in Black Sea: Two sanctioned vessels burst into flames close to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait

Two Russian shadow fleet tankers were rocked by blasts before catching fire in the Black Sea near Turkey’s Bosphorus strait, Turkish authorities reported Friday.

Turkey’s Directorate General of Maritime Affairs said the first tanker, the Gambian-flagged Kairos, caught fire approximately 28 miles off the coast of the country’s Kocaeli province. 

It blamed the fire on ‘an external impact,’ without providing details.

The 274-meter-long Kairos suffered an explosion in the Black Sea while en route from Egypt to Russia, Turkey’s Transport Ministry added. 

Within the hour, the maritime authority reported that a second tanker, Virat, was ‘struck’ while sailing in the Black Sea about 35 nautical miles off the Turkish coast. It did not provide further details.

Rescue teams were dispatched to the scene to provide assistance. All 20 crew members aboard the Virat were safe, although heavy smoke was reported in the engine room, the maritime authority said.

All 25 crew aboard the Kairos were also safely evacuated, Kocaeli Governor Ilhami Aktas said, adding that efforts to extinguish the fire were continuing.

‘A large fire is taking place,’ he said.

The OpenSanctions database, which tracks people or organisations involved in sanctions evasion, described the vessels as ‘shadow fleet’ – or vessels used to evade sanctions imposed on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Russia. 

Flames and thick smoke rise from a tanker after blasts rocked two vessels from Russia’s shadow fleet in the Black Sea near Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait

Smoke rises after a fire alert was received on board of the empty tanker Kairos, 28 miles off the Turkish coast, en route to Russia’s Novorossiysk Port

Gambian-flagged tanker Kairos transits the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, September 29, 2025

Aktas would not comment on what caused the fires – including whether they may have been struck by sea mines – but said the authorities would issue ‘a clearer statement’ once their inquiries are completed.

The maritime authority posted distant shots of smoke rising from the area where the Kairos caught fire.

Both Kairos and Virat are on a list of ships subject to sanctions imposed against Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to LSEG data.

The VesselFinder website showed the Virat was anchored north of the Bosphorus, not far from its current position, on November 4. 

The Kairos’ last position was on November 26 south of the Dardanelles Strait connecting the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara.

The United States sanctioned the Virat in January this year, followed by the European Union, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to the OpenSanctions website. 

Similarly, the EU sanctioned the Kairos in July this year, followed by the UK and Switzerland.

‘The shadow tanker fleet continues to provide multibillion-dollar revenues for the Kremlin bypassing sanctions, disguising its activities under the flags of third countries, using complex schemes to conceal owners and poses significant environmental threats,’ OpenSanctions says in its website entry on the Kairos.

The Virat, built in 2018, uses ‘irregular and high-risk shipping practices’ and has previously sailed under the flags of Barbados, Comoros, Liberia and Panama, OpenSanctions says.

The Kairos, formerly flagged as Panamanian, Greek and Liberian, was built in 2002.

Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the GUR, says on its website that both ships visit Russian ports and have a history of shutting off their automatic identification systems, which transmit a ship’s position.

The fire is believed to have been caused by an external factor

They have also docked at ports in China, Turkey and India, among other locations.

Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ refers to a covert network of ageing oil tankers used to bypass international sanctions imposed following its invasion of Ukraine. 

These sanctions, including price caps on Russian oil, aim to curtail Moscow’s revenues. 

However, the shadow fleet allows Russia to continue exporting oil globally while avoiding Western controls. 

This fleet is composed of older, poorly maintained vessels often operating without reputable Western insurance, relying instead on obscure providers or none at all.

To evade detection, the fleet employs tactics such as turning off tracking systems, falsifying location data, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers at sea to disguise the oil’s origin.

Its opaque operations and lack of oversight create vulnerabilities for maritime safety and international law enforcement.