Russia Signals Naval Shield for Shadow Fleet as Sanctions Enforcement Turns Physical

Russia Signals Naval Shield for Shadow Fleet as Sanctions Enforcement Turns Physical

Russia has threatened to deploy its navy to protect merchant tankers linked to its oil trade, marking a sharp escalation in the battle over Western sanctions that is increasingly shifting from financial pressure to physical enforcement at sea. Senior Kremlin security official Nikolai Patrushev warned that if blockades cannot be resolved peacefully, the Russian Navy would “break any blockade,” raising the risk of direct confrontation in contested…