Italian Forces Board Shadow Fleet Tanker with Polish Aerial Support

Italian military personnel boarded a Russian shadow fleet tanker near Pantelleria on Sunday during an EU operation backed by a Polish patrol aircraft.

Italian Boarding Operation

Soldiers from an Italian warship boarded a tanker belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet on Sunday near the Italian island of Pantelleria in the south of the country. The operation was carried out by military personnel from the Thaon di Revel, the flagship of the EUNAVFOR MED Irini operation, which is a European Union mission in the Mediterranean. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, support was provided by a Polish patrol aircraft.

The involvement of the Polish aircraft was reported in a Sunday post on X by the Operational Command of the Armed Forces. The M28 Bryza B1R of the IRINI Polish Military Contingent provided air support to the actions of EUNAVFOR MED Irini forces during the inspection of a tanker subject to European Union sanctions. The operation, conducted in international waters, confirmed the high level of training, professionalism, and effective cooperation of the countries participating in the mission, the statement read.

Monitoring and Control Operations

The military noted that the Polish Military Contingent IRINI continuously supports the implementation of the operation by conducting reconnaissance tasks and monitoring the situation in the Mediterranean Sea. Control activities on board the tanker lasted approximately two hours.

The inspected vessel was the Toa Payoh, a tanker subject to EU sanctions that sails under the flag of Cameroon. The tanker departed from the port of Cotonou in Benin on July 16 and is sailing to Istanbul. The Italian agency reported that the control actions, which were conducted with the support of a Greek warship and a Polish patrol aircraft, lasted about two hours and ended without incidents while maintaining safety.

The operation took place in international waters as part of the EU mandate. Earlier, on July 20, forces participating in the EU’s Irini operation inspected the Mv South Star tanker.

Context of the Shadow Fleet

The shadow fleet is a term used for a network of older tankers, often belonging to opaque ownership structures and operating under changing flags, which Western nations say help Russia maintain revenues from raw material exports despite sanctions imposed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to various estimates, it currently numbers between approximately 600 and 1,600 vessels worldwide.