On an unusually warm February day in 2023, an oil tanker sailing under the name Grace Felix arrived in the Bay of Durres carrying 21,000 tonnes of gasoil.
Documents carried by the vessel’s Russian captain stated that the fuel came from Azerbaijan, but Albanian officials say its route and movement data in the Mediterranean told a different story.
The cargo had been transferred to the Grace Felix in the Laconian Gulf, off the coast of Greece, from another tanker that had departed weeks earlier from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The ship-to-ship transfer – a practice often used to conceal the origin of cargo – raised suspicions that the oil was in fact Russian and thereby subject to sanctions.
The tanker was detained and its cargo subjected to inspections.
This would not be the last time the Grace Felix, since renamed Mestral, would be suspected of illegally transporting Russian energy products, the trade of which is restricted by sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States, and G7+ countries.
Ukrainian intelligence services accuse the ship’s management company, Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd, and the people behind the firm of bring part of a Russian so-called ‘shadow fleet’, a key source of revenue for the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine.
In 2025, Ukrainian authorities sanctioned the tanker and its captain, placing them on a blacklist drawn up by the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Directorate, GUR.
This list runs to hundreds of vessels suspected of transporting Russian energy products, weapons, and grain stolen from occupied Ukrainian territory.
At least a dozen have visited Albanian ports since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, raising doubts about the enforcement of sanctions imposed by the Albanian government against Moscow.
Enforcing trade restrictions on Russia and its energy products remains a challenge for the international community, and particularly for Albania, which has otherwise condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine in the strongest terms.
“Countries like Albania, where tracking of smuggled oil is not at the highest level, are certainly vulnerable to contraband fuel that may come from Russia,” said Ledion Krisafi, a researcher in international relations.
“But essentially, for the Albanian market, it does not matter much whether the oil is smuggled from Russia or from another country; in any case, it remains contraband, and institutions must do their job.”
Through a lawyer, Cymare Shipmanagement Ltd vehemently denied Ukrainian allegations linking its ships to a Russian ‘shadow fleet’.
“There is absolutely no basis to the allegations raised that the vessel “Mestral” (formerly “Grace Felix”) or any other vessels managed by Cymare have been involved in any activity that is in breach of EU, UK or US sanctions regulations and requirements,” the company said in a written response.
Criticising the tanker’s detention in Albania in 2023, Cymare noted that no charges of formal proceedings were ever brought against the ship, her owners or crew.
“There was no evidence to show that the oil on board the “Grace Felix” was of Russian origin and the official tests undertaken by the relevant state body demonstrated that it was different,” the firm said. “The Vessel and her cargo owners have suffered significant losses throughout this period.”
Oil products tankers moored at St. Petersburg Oil Terminal, Russia, September 2025. Photo: EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV
In April, the EU adopted its 20th package of sanctions on Russia, focusing this time on its alleged ‘shadow fleet’. So far, the bloc has blacklisted more than 630 vessels, mainly aging tankers with opaque ownership structures, banning their access to European ports. An embargo is in place on seaborne imports of Russian oil and its by-products, while G7+ countries including Canada, Japan and Britain have introduced a price cap of $44 per barrel on Russian oil purchases.
Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said the ‘shadow fleet’ is essential for Russia to continue selling its main export.
“Russia can legally export oil below the price cap, but this is far less profitable or generates limited returns,” Braw said. With the ‘shadow fleet’, Russia can transport and export oil above the cap.
