British consultants suggest foreign forces behind attacks on ships entering Russian ports

A British maritime security company has put forward their belief that attacks on tankers that entered Russian ports were highly likely deliberately carried out by foreign state actors.

This suggestion was published in a report by the UK-based Ambrey company, Caliber.Az reports citing Russian media.

According to their data, at least four tankers and one bulk carrier have sustained damage "indicative of naval mines" since December 2024.

The report found that "most of the vessels were affected by multiple explosions in the stern, near the engine room, and underwater. There is a high likelihood that the goal of the attacks was the complete loss of the vessels."

The company suggested that naval mines could have been placed while "the vessels were drifting or anchored." "Divers could have deployed them. It is possible that transport vehicles were used to deliver the swimmers. It is highly unlikely that the mines were placed while the vessels were in port, given the associated risks, but there are opportunities to place them on the way to or from ports, where ships slow down enough for divers to attach the mines."

Ambrey further noted that none of the affected vessels were on Western sanctions lists or part of Russia's "shadow fleet." "The available evidence strongly suggests that the perpetrator does not differentiate between ships carrying Russian-origin oil and those transporting non-Russian hydrocarbons. Two of the damaged vessels had previously loaded at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Novorossiysk, which primarily exports Kazakh-origin oil through some Russian infrastructure," the report emphasized.

The company stated that while these attacks do not currently threaten Russia’s hydrocarbon exports, they could "lead to an increase in the cost of war risk insurance."

By Nazrin Sadigova