Pushpa

The former captain of the 'Phoenix', suspected of being part of the Russian ghost fleet, was sentenced to prison on Monday, February 23, and an arrest warrant has been issued. One year in prison and a €150,000 fine was requested by the Brest court, which is the maximum sentence. Chinese captain Chen Zhangjie, 39, currently at sea, was summoned to court after the ship was released by French authorities on Oct 2.

The trial of the Chinese captain of the 'Boracay' (Phoenix), opened on Feb 23 in Brest in his absence. Currently at sea, Chen Zhangjie, 39, was represented before the Brest criminal court by his lawyer, Henri de Richemont. He was accused of refusing to comply when the French navy attempted to inspect his vessel on Sep 27, while it was sailing in international waters off the island of Ushant. The ship was suspected of involvement in the drone overflights that disrupted Danish air traffic in September. Two employees of a Russian private security company, tasked with monitoring the crew and gathering intelligence, were on board the tanker. Aged 34 and 40, these two men, one a former police officer with ties to the notorious Wagner Group, were employed by the Russian private security firm Moran Security Group. The only person prosecuted by the French justice system, Mr. Chen, was facing a potential sentence of one year in prison and a €150,000 fine. His lawyer announced that he would ask the Brest court to declare itself incompetent. According to the lawyer, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also known as the "Montego Bay Convention," applies in this case. According to the provisions of this convention, the courts of Benin (the flag flown by the 'Boracay' at the time) or China (the nationality of the captain) would have jurisdiction to try Mr. Chen, the lawyer stated. On Feb 23, the ship was anchored near the port of Rizhao.

Henri de Richemont, the lawyer for the Zhangjie Chen, 39, the Chinese captain of the 'Boracay', seized off the coast of Brest in 2025, and actually sailing as 'Phoenix' (and also known as 'Pushpa'), flying the Russian flag since Jan 16, 2026, will ask the Brest court to declare itself incompetent and refer the case to the Montego Bay Convention. The trial was scheduled for Feb 23. The tanker belonging to the Russian shadow fleet and seized off the coast of Saint-Nazaire, cannot be tried in a French court, according to the lawyer. The captain has to appear before the Brest criminal court for "refusal to comply with an order to stop." The captain and his first mate were taken into custody in early October 2025 in Brest. The French authorities accused the crew of "refusal to comply" when the French navy attempted to inspect the vessel, which was then flying the Beninese flag. Under European sanctions, the tanker was also suspected of involvement in drone overflights that disrupted Danish air traffic. The lawyer intends to ask the Brest court to declare itself incompetent under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also known as the Montego Bay Convention: "If the captain is accused of not stopping, the article of the Montego Bay Convention which provides for two jurisdictions in the event of a navigational offence must be applied: either the court of the flag state, or the court of the residence of the accused seaman." The tanker most recently sailed from Dongjiakou on Feb 5, headed to the Russian port of Vostochniy.

Russia’s dark fleet operators, who move cargoes of crude oil that can be subject to US and other Western-nation sanctions, have habitually used flags of convenience to register their tankers, as part of their subterfuges to circumvent these sanctions. Sometimes, the nations owning the flags of convenience, which ships need to have before they can obtain insurance or docking facilities, have ineffective compliance regimes. Registrations on flags of convenience can also be fictitious and fraudulent, obscure flags of convenience being used because sometimes these nations have untraceable or non-existent verification procedures, or in some cases have no maritime registration facilities at all. The most infamous of these moving targets is probably the Benin-flagged 'Bocaray', which was recently intercepted off the Brittany coast by the French Navy, and last seen heading for the Suez Canal, arriving in Port Said on Oct 14. The tankerl has been known recently as the 'Pushpa', 'Pacific Apollo', 'Virgo Su', 'P. Fos', 'Odysseus', 'Varuna' and 'Kiwala', beomg registered variously under the flags of Hong Kong, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Mongolia, Gabon, and Djibouti.

The captain and the chief officer, both of whom wre reported to be Chinese nationals, were released from detention again on Oct 2. The captain was ordered to appear in court on Feb 23, 2026, on the charge that he failed to obey orders from the French forces, which boarded the vessel on Sep 27, while it was sailing on the Atlantic coast. The captain could face up to one year in prison and a fine of approximately $175,000. The stop was predicated on the Navy’s suspicion of a discrepancy between the declared nationality and its real nationality. The ship has been claiming to be sailing under the flag of Benin since Sept 1, but that is widely believed to be a false flag. Prosecutors initially also said the two men could be charged for the false identity of the vessel, but later said that it was not the captain’s responsibility. He, however, continues to face the charges of not responding to the orders, but the chief officer was released with no charges. The tanker has been sanctioned by both the UK and the EU for its association with the Russian oil trade. It has been cited for AIS spoofing and inconsistencies in its identity and registration in the past. It is believed to have started operating in the shadow fleet in June. French military personnel left the tanker on Oct 2. The tanker heaved anchor at 11 p.m. with an ETA at Suez as of Oct 14. Report with photo: https://www.soefart.dk/article/view/1187680/mistaenkt_tankskib_sejler_fra_frankrig_efter_anholdelse_af_kaptajn

The captain and an officer of the shadow fleet tanker 'Pushpa' have been arrested off the coast of Saint-Nazaire. The vessel, also identified as the 'Boracay', was boarded off the coast of Saint-Nazaire by French forces. The vessel was blacklisted by the EU in February under the name 'Kiwala' for circumventing Russian oil sanctions. The vessel was loitering off the coast of Denmark from Sep 22to 25. There have been drone sightings over Denmark since Sep 22, which have prompted closures of airports for brief periods of time and a ban on all civilian drone flights. President Macron stated that the vessel was being probed for “serious offences,” but did not explicitly establish any connection between the detention of the vessel and the drone flights. The French prosecutors have stated that two crew members, identifying themselves as the captain and the 1st mate of the vessel, were taken into custody. The prosecutors further stated that the preliminary investigations of the vessel involved a failure to provide proof of the vessel’s nationality as well as refusal to comply with instructions.

The French Navy on Sep 30 said that authorities were investigating a suspected infraction by the 'Pushpa', en route from Primorsk to Vadinar, which is listed under British and EU sanctions against Russia because of its war against Ukraine. Following a suspected offense by the vessel, a report was made to the relevant public prosecutor’s office in Brest on Sep 29. The 'Pushpa' was escorted by a French naval vessel in international waters before it changed course and stopped in the Bay of Biscay. The tanker has previously been observed in Danish waters in connection with the recent drone incidents in Copenhagen and Jutland between Sep 22 and Sep 25, , just as the country was being overflown by unidentified drones, forcing authorities to temporarily close its airspace, as well as several airports, including those in Copenhagen and Aalborg. The vessel has been circling the waters around the wind farm off Saint-Nazaire, bordering French territorial waters, on Sep 27. As the Danish Navy has previously reported, there has been speculation about Russian so-called shadow ships being involved in the drone incidents that have hit Danish airports in the past week. The ' Pushpa' was within flying distance of both Copenhagen Airport and several Jutland airports when the drones flew over the areas on Sep 22. The investigation by the prosecutor's office in Brest concerned a lack of documentation for the ship's nationality and flag affiliation and a refusal to comply with orders. It was unclear whether the investigation was related to the Danish drone episodes. Th tanker has showed classic hallmarks of maritime evasion tactics in the past, such as confirmed AIS spoofing: between July 5 and Aug 30, 2024, false identity broadcasts as 'Boracay', pPort-call risk and AIS gaps as well as classification, P&I, and ISM Manager irregularities. Britain and the EU imposed separate sanctions on the tanker in Oct 2024 and Feb 2025. The vessel was linked to the transport of Russian crude oil and petroleum products while practicing irregular and high-risk shipping practices, and involved in activity whose object or effect is to destabilize Ukraine or to obtain a benefit from or support the government of Russia” in the transport of oil or oil products that originated in Russia from Russia to a third country. The vessel, which changed its name to 'Boracay' in Dec 2024 was previously sailing as 'Kiwala', 'Odysseus', 'P. Fos' or 'Varuna', flying the flags of Gabon, Marshall Islands, Liberia and Mongoliia. Estonia released the 'Kiwala' in April 2025 after detaining it for sailing without a valid country flag. The vessel is part of the shadow fleet of tankers involved in the Russian oil trade that have unknown ownership and insurance and are typically over 20 years old. It remained anchored in pos. 47° 04' N 002° 50' W, close to Saint Nazaire as of Oct 1.

The cargo m/v 'Astrol 1' (IMO: 9906544) was among three vessels which were suspected of launching large drones that shut down Copenhagen Airport, forcing 150 flights to be cancelled or diverted, on the night of Sep 22, 2025. The investigation into the unprecedented drone assault on Copenhagen Airport has identified three suspicious vessels that were positioned in strategic locations during the incident that paralyzed one of Northern Europe’s busiest aviation hubs. The sanctioned ' Astrol 1' sailed through the Øresund Strait at that time and made several irregular maneuvers. The vessel’s unusual behaviour during the precise timeframe of the drone attacks has placed it at the center of the international investigation. The ship’s movements through the waterway coincided with the appearance of multiple large drones over the Kastrup Airport, suggesting potential coordination between maritime and aerial operations. The 'Pushpa', sailing under the flag of Benin and sanctioned for transporting Russian oil, was another vessel considered suspicious by investigators. The ship was monitored for four hours by a German NATO warship, indicating the serious security concerns surrounding its presence during the drone incident. The Norwegian cargo m/v 'Oslo Carrier 3' (IMO: 9366146) was positioned seven kilometers from Kastrup Airport while the drones were being pursued by authorities. Several Russian-speaking crew members were among the ship’s crew, and the vessel’s owner maintains offices in Kaliningrad, Russia. The ship’s proximity to the airport during the active drone pursuit, combined with its Russian connections, has made it a key focus of the expanding international investigation. The drone attack on Copenhagen Airport resulted in approximately 150 flights being cancelled or diverted, representing one of the most significant aviation security incidents in Scandinavian history. The scale of the disruption underscores the effectiveness of the coordinated assault on critical infrastructure. Kastrup Airport, which handles nearly 30 million passengers annually, was forced into complete shutdown mode as authorities responded to multiple large drones operating in controlled airspace around the facility.

The sanctioned 'Kiwala', which was detained in Estonia for operating without a valid flag state registration, being suspected to be part of the Russan “shadow fleet” used to circumvent international sanctions, was released, after Djibouti agreed to register the vessel temporarily. The ship weighed anchor on April 26 and headed to the Russian port Ust-Luga, where it arrived on April 29.

The authorities in Estonia have, during an inspection of the 'Kiwala', which was intercepted in the Baltic Sea by units from the Estonian Navy, found 40 shortcomings and deficiencies. Inspectors from the Transport Administration conducted a full-day inspection and identified several significant deficiencies. Of on the whole 40 deficiencies being found, 29 were deemed significant and formed the basis for detaining the vessel. 23 of those were documentation-related, while others concerned failures in the ship’s safety management system, crew emergency preparedness, and technical malfunctions. Estonian authorities stated that the vessel lacks a valid flag state and insurance. The ship could not to continue sailing, as it could endanger safety at sea and the marine environment. According to the ship's Chinese captain, the tanker is registered in Djibouti, which was however rejected by Djibouti, which has not been able to find the ship in its ship registe after having withdrawn the flage due to previous illegal activities of the ship, which has changed owners and names several times in recent years. The tanker had thus entered the Gulf of Finland on April 10 without valid flag state certification or insurance. The vessel is also subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Switzerland for past illicit conduct. After entering Estonia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the ship was contacted and directed into Estonian territorial waters for inspection. The tanker is sailing in ballast and was on its way to Ust-Luga in Russia, when the Estonian authorities intervened, exercising its rights and international obligations to inspect a stateless vessel. Operating without a flag leaves a vessel outside any national jurisdiction, violating international maritime norms. The majority of the ship's 24-man crew is from China, the rest from Mauritania. Report with photo: https://tvpworld.com/86137104/estonian-inspectors-find-detained-shadow-fleet-tanker-has-dozens-of-deficiencies

On the morning of April 11, 2025, the Estonian Navy detained the 'Kiwala', a tanker from Russia's "shadow fleet" that exports Russian crude oil and oil products to third countries, en route from Sikka to the Russian port Ust-Luga. Estonia began preparing for the operation on the evening of April 10, and the operation itself began on April 11 at 3 a.m. At 4:19 a.m., the tanker entered Estonian waters. The vessel is now east of Aegna Island, with two warships alongside it. The vessel was under sanctions in connection with its previous activities in the European Union and was heading to Ust-Luga. The tanker had no flag, and such vessels are not allowed to move. During the detention, the technical condition of the vessel and the crew's documents were checked. A helicopter was involved in the operation. There were 24 people on board the tanker. The captain of the vessel is a Chinese national, who is cooperating with the investigation. Recently, the vessel has been flying the flag of Djibouti. The tanker was anchored in pos. 59° 35' N 024° 49' E. Report with photos: https://censor.net/en/photonews/3546274/russian-shadow-fleet-tanker-kiwala-detained-in-estonia