The Shadow Fleet’s Growing Geopolitical Role
Virtual Briefing Series
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
In response to the unprecedented economic sanctions put on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Moscow spent over $10 billion on building a “shadow fleet,” accelerating a practice that countries such as Venezuela and Iran have used to circumvent sanctions. In addition to sanctions evasion, shadow fleets often operate under false flags, lack proper insurance, and pose serious risks of spills, collisions, and abusive labor conditions. Furthermore, the EU has linked the shadow fleet directly to Russia’s hybrid warfare operations, including recent damage to power and telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. As global shipping comes under new scrutiny with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the ability of the shadow fleet to undermine Washington’s strategy raises new concerns. What does the web of shadow fleet shipping look like? What impact has the war with Iran had on the fleet? And what strategies can be used to counter this practice?
Join us for an insightful virtual discussion on how Russia’s shadow fleet is challenging the global maritime order on Tuesday, April 7th, from 12 PM to 1 PM ET, featuring Michelle Wiese Bockmann, Maritime Intelligence Analyst and Writer specializing in sanctioned oil flows and Elisabeth Braw, Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
THIS SESSION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SPEAKERS:
Michelle Wiese Bockmann
Michelle Wiese Bockmann, Maritime Intelligence Analyst and Writer specializing in sanctioned oil flows.
She is an expert in the ‘shadow fleet’, deceptive and illicit shipping practices, and their regulatory, security and legal implications. She has more than 25 years’ experience across three continents in shipping and oil markets with a focus on the intersection of global shipping and geopolitics, maritime intelligence, and risk and compliance. She is currently employed as a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI, the world’s leading maritime AI company. She is also part of the Distinguished Visiting Fellows Programme at the International Maritime Organisation’s International Maritime Law Institute and currently serves on the Comité Maritime International’s working group on Piracy, Maritime Violence, and Fraudulent Activity Including Fraudulent Registries and the Royal United Services Institute Maritime Sanctions Taskforce. Before moving to England from Australia in 2006 Michelle was a political writer for The Australian, the country’s national newspaper. She has worked for Bloomberg News, Lloyd’s List and Fairplay shipping publications. Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of South Australia.
Elisabeth Braw
Elisabeth Braw, is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Her work focuses on defense against gray-zone and hybrid threats as well as the intersection of geopolitics and the globalized economy. She leads the Transatlantic Security Initiative’s “Threats to the global maritime order” project. Braw is also a columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe.
Braw is a member of the advisory boards of M&C Saatchi World Services and GALLOS Technologies. She is also an adviser to Willis Towers Watson’s research arm, a member of the United Kingdom’s National Preparedness Commission, and a member of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy’s advisory council.
Braw has published numerous books, including the award-winning Goodbye, Globalization: The Return of a Divided World (2024), The Defender’s Dilemma: Identifying and Deterring Gray-Zone Aggression (2022), and God’s Spies (2019). She is also the author of the upcoming book The Undersea War.
Braw was previously a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. Prior to joining academia, she worked in the private sector following a career as a journalist.
THIS SESSION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
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Image credit: Photo by Aleksey Malinovski on Unsplash
