‘Shadow fleet’ ships moving sanctioned oil reflagged to Russia at rising rate
Forty ships accused of belonging to a large “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil for Venezuela and others were reflagged to Russia last year in an apparent attempt to gain Kremlin protection from American seizure.Analysis by the shipping intelligence publication Lloyd’s List suggests that of those, at least 17 suspicious vessels joined the Russian registry over the past month, compared with 15 ships in the previous five months of 2025.The sudden flurry of activity appears to be linked to Donald Trump’s announcement last month of what he called a US “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers in and out of Venezuela.The term “shadow fleet” is defined by Lloyd’s List as ships for which deceptive practices are used in order to allow them to transport goods – including oil and gas – in violation of sanctions and price caps.On Thursday, a ship subjected to sanctions by the US over concerns it had been involved in distributing illicit Russian oil was identified as sailing through the Channel under a false name and Cameroonian flag.
Tracking data suggested it was heading towards Russia after departing from the Star Rafineri refinery, near İzmir, western Turkey, on 30 December.In 2024, only 18 ships identified as being part of the shadow fleet were thought to have changed their national registration to take the Russian flag, but Trump’s interest appears to have drawn many others to make the move.Before its dramatic seizure by US special forces on Monday, the tanker Marinera carrying Venezuelan oil was known as the Bella 1.It had sought to evade American intervention by switching its flag from a falsified Guyanese flag to a Russian flag, a crude image of which had been painted on its side.The tactic failed to protect Marinera – or a second vessel, known as M/T Sophia, which was seized in the Caribbean and escorted to the US by the coastguard on the grounds that it was conducting “illicit activities”.
In early December, US special forces also seized the Skipper, a tanker off Venezuela that the US treasury had placed under sanctions in 2022 after claims it had been smuggling oil on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.Bridget Diakun, a senior risk and compliance analyst at Lloyd’s List Intelligence, said that as of October there were 1,423 ships within the shadow fleet suspected of moving sanctioned goods for Russia, Iran and Venezuela.The fleet was growing by about 10 vessels a month, the data suggested.In recent weeks there had been a sudden trend towards some of those ships applying to join the Russian registry, Diakun said.Russia had reportedly dispatched a submarine to escort the Marinera in the days before it was boarded by US special forces, and the Kremlin had warned the White House off from intervening.
According to analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia’s shadow fleet transports an estimated 3.7m barrels of oil a day, representing 65% of Russia’s seaborne oil trade, and generates an estimated $87bn (£69bn) to $100bn (£80bn) annual revenue.On Thursday, Douglas Alexander, the secretary of state for Scotland, defended the UK’s involvement in the seizure of the Marinera after Russia claimed that this was a breach of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.Alexander said: “This ship is part of the shadow fleet that funds Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.“As a UK government and as the United Kingdom, our national interest is served by avoiding the illegal fuelling of terrorism, of conflict and of misery, whether in Ukraine, the Middle East or anywhere else.
So when we were asked by the United States to provide operation assistance, including basing an air surveillance support, we were absolutely willing to step up.“I think it is right and reasonable we work with our allies to confront the attempt to sanction-bust that we are witnessing from the Russians on a regular basis.”
UK ministers considering leaving X amid concern over AI tool images
UK ministers are considering leaving X as a result of the controversy over the platform’s AI tool, which has been allowing users to generate digitally altered pictures of people – including children – with their clothes removed.Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party and a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, said on Friday that conversations were happening within the government and Labour about their continued use of the social media platform, which is controlled by Elon Musk.The government has come under mounting pressure to leave X after the site was flooded with images including sexualised and unclothed pictures of children generated by its AI tool, Grok.Turley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “X, first and foremost, has to get its act together and prevent this. It has the powers to do this, and we need to make sure there are firm consequences for that
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tool, has switched off its image creation function for the vast majority of users after a widespread outcry about its use to create sexually explicit and violent imagery.The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines, regulatory action and reports of a possible ban on X in the UK.The tool had been used to manipulate images of women to remove their clothes and put them in sexualised positions. The function to do so has been switched off except for paying subscribers.Posting on X, Musk’s social media network, Grok said: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers
Grok being used to create sexually violent videos featuring women, research finds
Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok has been used to create sexually violent and explicit video content featuring women, according to new research, as the British prime minister added to condemnation of images it has created.Grok has also been used to undress an image of Renee Nicole Good, the woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in the US on Wednesday, and to portray her with a bullet wound in her forehead.Research by AI Forensics, a Paris-based non-profit organisation, found about 800 images and videos created by the Grok Imagine app that included pornographic content. Paul Bouchaud, a researcher at AI Forensics, said: “These are fully pornographic videos and they look professional.”One photorealistic AI video viewed by the NGO showed a woman, tattooed with the slogan “do not resuscitate”, with a knife between her legs
Grok AI: is it legal to produce or post undressed images of people without their consent?
The deluge of images of partly clothed women – stripped by the Grok AI tool – on Elon Musk’s X has raised further questions over regulation of the technology. Is it legal to produce these images without the subject’s consent? Should they be taken off X?In the UK alone there is some doubt over the answers to these queries. Social media regulation is a nascent area, let alone trying to control the deployment of artificial intelligence. There are laws in place to tackle the problem, such as the Online Safety Act, but the government has yet to introduce additional measures such as banning nudifying apps.It is a criminal offence to share intimate images of someone without their consent under the Sexual Offences Act in England and Wales, which includes images created by AI
Hundreds of nonconsensual AI images being created by Grok on X, data shows
New research that samples X users prompting Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok demonstrates how frequently people are creating sexualized images with it. Nearly three-quarters of posts collected and analyzed by a PhD researcher at Dublin’s Trinity College were requests for nonconsensual images of real women or minors with items of clothing removed or added.The posts offer a new level of detail on how the images are generated and shared on X, with users coaching one another on prompts; suggesting iterations on Grok’s presentations of women in lingerie or swimsuits, or with areas of their body covered in semen; and asking Grok to remove outer clothing in replies to posts containing self-portraits by female users.Among hundreds of posts identified by Nana Nwachukwu as direct, nonconsensual requests for Grok to remove or replace clothing, dozens reviewed by the Guardian show users posting pictures of women including celebrities, models, stock photos and women who are not public figures posing in snapshots.Several posts in the trove reviewed by the Guardian have received tens of thousands of impressions and come from premium, “blue check” accounts, including accounts with tens of thousands of followers
Musk lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion can go to trial, US judge says
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI is to go to trial after a US judge said there is plenty of evidence to support the billionaire’s case.The world’s richest man, who co-founded OpenAI, is suing the ChatGPT developer and its chief executive, Sam Altman, over claims its leaders violated the organisation’s founding mission by shifting to a for-profit model.The US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, told a hearing there was plenty of evidence that suggested OpenAI’s leaders made assurances that its original nonprofit structure was going to be maintained.She said there were enough disputed facts to let a jury consider the claims at a trial scheduled for March, rather than decide the issues herself. Rogers said she would issue a written order after the hearing that addresses OpenAI’s attempt to throw out the case
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