Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again. So today, we're going to talk about

shadow fleets, Finland, and Russia. There's been an international drama unfolding in the

Baltic Sea for the last few days. A cargo ship was detained by Finnish authorities,

after they began to suspect it was involved

in a hit against undersea power and internet cables.

The detained ship is named the Eagle S.

The belief is that the ship intentionally dragged anchor across the sea floor to damage the cables.

According to a statement put out by the European Commission, which is the executive arm of the

European Union, quote, the suspected vessel is part of Russia's shadow fleet, which threatens

security and the environment, while funding Russia's war budget.

We will propose further measures, including sanctions to target this fleet.

What is a shadow fleet?

Generally, it's a fleet used to circumvent sanctions and sometimes used for intelligence and apparently

sabotage operations.

Most times the ships in the fleets are old ships that fly under flags of convenience rather

than that of their controlling nation, and their ownership is often obscured. They also rarely carry proper insurance. That may seem

like something odd to mention, but think about the damage caused to the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

To be clear, the ship involved in that was not part of a shadow fleet, but it shows the amount of damage

that can be caused.

It's worth noting that the term shadow fleet is kind of ill-defined.

Sometimes its use includes only ships believed to be under direct control of the state in

question, and sometimes it includes those that are privately owned and just taking jobs for the state.

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