Russia Sends Arctic Oil Tanker Shadow Fleet Within 500 Nautical Miles of North Pole

Russia has dispatched an unprecedented convoy of sanctioned oil tankers to within 500 nautical miles of the North Pole sending the fleet onto one of the most northerly commercial shipping routes ever attempted in the Arctic.

The fleet is transporting crude oil from Arctic export terminals toward Asian buyers as Russia continues to make growing use of the Northern Sea Route during the summer navigation season to shorten voyages and reduce reliance on contested global shipping hotspots such as the Black Sea.

At the fleet’s current position, only four vessels are operating farther north: the Swedish icebreaker Oden, China’s polar icebreaker