A Russian shadow-fleet ship raided by the French authorities could be linked to nine drone attacks on European airports and other infrastructure.
The Boracay, an 18-year-old tanker, left Russia on Sept 20 and sailed through the Baltic, where a string of mysterious swarms of drones were launched over the past two weeks.
A Telegraph analysis of tracking data puts the ship at the scene of the unexplained drone incursions, which Western leaders have warned are part of Moscow’s hybrid war against Nato and its allies.
Experts have speculated that the ship was used to launch drones that caused mayhem by shutting down infrastructure, leading to increasing military patrols. The tactic represents a new front in Russia’s growing hybrid war against European allies of Ukraine.
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Data provided by MarineTraffic, a ship tracking website, puts the Boracay within 50 nautical miles of Copenhagen, Denmark on Sept 22, when drone activity brought its airport to a standstill for hours.
The tanker was observed skirting around Denmark’s northernmost tip before sailing south down its western coast between Sept 23 and 25. During those days, four more Danish airports were closed after drone sightings.
On Sept 25, drones were also seen near infrastructure in Kiel, Germany. Officials said they were spying on a power plant, a military shipyard, a key shipping canal, a hospital and the regional parliament.
At the time of the incident, the Boracay can be traced to the waters off Germany’s North Sea coast.
The tanker later passed through the Channel into French waters and was seized by the French authorities. Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned France’s boarding of the tanker, accusing France of piracy.
The Russian shadow fleet is better known for funding Putin’s war machine by shipping oil, in breach of Western sanctions. Its suspected link to the Copenhagen incident is the first known example of the fleet causing disruption by launching drones.
The Boracay was built in 2007 as the Pacific Apollo before being renamed, as the Virgus 13. Since 2020 it has been relabelled as the P Fos, Odysseus, Varuna and Kiwala before being given its current name. In some records it is called the Pushpa.
It is registered to Baaj Shipping Limited, a brass plate company registered in the Seychelles. While currently fraudulently flagged in Benin, the ship has rotated through fake flags from Gambia and Malawi.
According to commercially available data, it was last inspected in April, in a port in Estonia, where 40 deficiencies were discovered. Certificates were found to be invalid for everything from radio equipment to onboard safety equipment.
Experts have raised concerns that, as well as the breaching of sanctions and disruptive activity, the use by Russia of ageing vessels with obscure ownership and no insurance poses a risk to the environment.
Peter Aylott, head of policy at the UK Chamber of Shipping, said: “The insurance is particularly what everyone is worried about, because if there is an accident of a Russian tanker, or a tanker controlled by Russian interests, and there’s a big pollution incident, who’s going to pay, who’s going to sort it out, and how’s it going to be done?”
The Boracay was detained by French authorities off Brest on Wednesday night. The city’s prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger, who is leading the investigation, said the two crew members had identified themselves as the ship’s captain and first officer.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, was the first to warn that Russia was using shadow-fleet vessels to “launch and control” drones over European cities, citing domestic intelligence on Sept 28.
