RUSSIAN ships have been swarming through the Strait of Gibraltar in a highly unusual travel pattern, experts have warned – amid calls on Spain to step up sea policing in the area.
Michael Sanchez, a retired police officer and naval observer from Gibraltar, said he clocked at least five Russian vessels crossing the Strait between December 30 and January 1.
Two of the ships spotted – arms carrier MV Lady Mariia and oil tanker MV Pluton – are on international sanctions lists from the US, the UK, and Europe.
“I have been tracking and logging Russian Navy and merchant ships for 10 years,” Sanchez said.
“This is most unusual to say the least.”
The sightings came as experts urged Spain to step up maritime patrols in the area – warning that insufficient policing could leave the Strait vulnerable to operational and strategic risks.
Naval and military historian Rafael Muñoz Abad said Spain was “silently yielding control of the Strait’s southern bank to Morocco, while monitoring only the northern bank and the exit into the Atlantic.”
“A serious country cannot allow maritime voids within its sphere of influence,” he added.
On December 30, Sanchez first observed the Russian-flagged MV Lady Mariia transiting westward toward the Atlantic in view of Europa Point, Gibraltar.
The ship, owned and operated by Russian maritime shipping company MG-FLOT, is on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list and has been involved in recent movements towing other vessels such as the MV Kapitan Danilkin off the coast of Algeria.
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Later the same day, Sanchez recorded the passage of the MV Stargazer, a Russian cargo ship, moving eastward toward the Mediterranean, also visible from Europa Point.
This vessel, which came from Arkhangelsk in northern Russia and was headed for Iskenderun in Turkey, is not on current international sanctions lists.
On the morning of 31 December, Sanchez noted the MV Kapitan Danilkin, a Russian merchant vessel, making its way west toward the Atlantic, roughly eight nautical miles off Gibraltar.
The ship – previously seen alongside the Lady Mariia near Algeria – was navigating in reduced visibility and may have experienced mechanical issues, Sanchez said.
The naval observer’s reports on New Year’s Day began with the MV Pluton, a Russian oil tanker listed under sanctions by both the European Union and the United Kingdom, moving westward through the Strait under rainy conditions toward the Atlantic.
He described this transit as part of an unusual movement of Russian oil tankers into the Atlantic.
Hours later, Sanchez documented the MV Jagger, another Russian-flagged oil tanker, following the Pluton on the same route.
In addition to these five documented transits, Sanchez noted that several other Russian tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers – including Jupiter, Arctic Pioneer, Arctic Vostock, Primorye, Progress, Universal Aria, Liteyny Prospectand Triumf – had departed the Mediterranean for the Atlantic since 23 December.
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