Russia’s Shadow Fleet: An Intelligence Arm Challenging NATO
As tensions between Russia and NATO continue to escalate, the tools of confrontation are increasingly shifting toward more sophisticated intelligence methods that extend beyond conventional battlefields to include reconnaissance missions and the testing of military readiness.
A report issued by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) revealed that “Russia used sanctioned oil tankers to launch drones for the purpose of spying on nuclear facilities, exploiting numerous weaknesses in NATO’s air defense systems during a campaign that lasted fifteen months.”
Among the installations reportedly targeted was RAF Lakenheath, a United States Air Force base located in Suffolk that is preparing to host nuclear bombs, according to the British newspaper The Telegraph. As of 8:25 GMT, Moscow had not responded to these allegations.
According to the newspaper, in November 2024, a drone entered the airspace above RAF Lakenheath and three other American military installations in England. Investigators traced the launch of the drones to a sanctioned Russian oil tanker that was anchored in Hull at the time.
Military installations across Europe were also reportedly subjected to surveillance operations, including the secret submarine base on Île Longue in Brittany, France, which houses most of the country’s nuclear missiles, as well as air bases in Belgium and the Netherlands that store nuclear bombs.
Analysts identified the dates and times of drone sightings over military bases, airports, and critical civilian infrastructure in thirteen European countries between August 2024 and February 2026. In every recorded incident, one or more Russian shadow fleet tankers were operating nearby.
In one case, drones were observed launching from a Russian intelligence vessel before heading toward a French aircraft carrier. According to the IISS report, these incidents depict a large-scale and “coordinated” operation across European airspace.
The report concludes that it is “likely” the Kremlin used sanctioned vessels to deploy drones and conduct surveillance of NATO’s most sensitive military facilities.
Charlie Edwards, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute and one of the report’s authors, said: “The pattern of observations across fifteen months and thirteen countries cannot be explained simply by misidentification or opportunistic activity.”
He added: “Russia has publicly demonstrated its ability to penetrate NATO airspace, including over nuclear facilities, without triggering a collective Allied response. This gap between operational capability and political will has now become a strategic vulnerability.”
The report suggests that the campaign was intended to test NATO’s air defense systems, gather intelligence on highly sensitive facilities, and identify logistics hubs supporting Ukraine.
It further argues that the mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from European capitals following the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022 significantly weakened Russia’s espionage network across Europe.
According to the British Ministry of Defence, the shadow fleet, consisting of more than 700 aging vessels, is responsible for transporting approximately 75 percent of Russia’s sanctioned oil exports, and one of these ships has been linked to multiple drone operations.
Drones harassed RAF Lakenheath for an entire week in November 2024, while similar incidents also affected the American bases at RAF Mildenhall, RAF Fairford, and RAF Feltwell.
At the time, government officials were unable to directly attribute the incursions to Moscow, while both Downing Street and Washington downplayed their significance.
However, analysts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded that a sanctioned Russian tanker named Haf Dolphin, anchored near the city of Hull approximately 160 kilometers north of RAF Lakenheath, was the “likely” launch platform for the drones.
The vessel was also linked to another series of drone incursions over military bases in Germany and the Netherlands in May 2025. Experts believe the Haf Dolphin acted as a mothership, deploying sophisticated long-range drones later that day.
The ship was likewise operating near France’s submarine base during a drone incursion in December 2025. At the time, it was sailing in the English Channel near Portsmouth, approximately 200 miles to the east, while three additional sanctioned Russian vessels were located nearby west of the French naval base.
Experts believe the vessel may have been carrying long-range drones similar to the Orlan-10, a small multipurpose unmanned aerial vehicle that has been in service with the Russian military since 2010 and has an operational range exceeding 300 miles.
On another occasion, drones flew over an Irish naval vessel off the coast of Dublin on December 2, 2025, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first official visit to Ireland. At the time, the Maltese-flagged vessel Vision was reportedly loitering approximately 37 miles away.
Swedish authorities had previously seized the vessel and detained its crew in January 2025 in connection with “damage to an undersea fiber-optic cable in the Baltic Sea.”
In Belgium, drones flew over Kleine Brogel Air Base, which also stores American nuclear weapons, for three consecutive nights between October 31 and November 2, 2025.
The drones also targeted Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands over three days during November and December 2025. The base hosts dual-capable fighter aircraft capable of carrying American B61 nuclear bombs that NATO may deploy.
The report states that “the drone incidents indicate a deliberate effort to evaluate NATO’s integrated air defense protocols.”
Analysts monitoring the incursions reported that “multiple suspicious vessels were loitering in international waters and at anchor off the Dutch and French coasts.” According to the report, these vessels, which form part of Russia’s unofficial shadow fleet, provided “a potential maritime launch-and-recovery platform capable of penetrating deep into European airspace.”
Finally, the report states that intelligence and military personnel from Russian security services are routinely deployed aboard these vessels to operate the drones, which have served as “an alternative technological solution for aerial reconnaissance, compensating for the intelligence networks and operational capabilities that Russia has lost.”
