Albanian port authorities have refused entry to the tanker “Hanuman” after the vessel was identified by Ukrainian military intelligence as part of a “shadow fleet” transporting Russian oil products. A Sierra Leone-flagged tanker was denied entry to the Port of Durres on Thursday after Albanian authorities identified it as part of a so-called Russian “shadow fleet.” The captain of the Port of Durres, Taulant Allkja, told BIRN that the tanker “Hanuman”, with IMO number 9295048, had been identified by Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, GUR, and partner services as part of a “shadow fleet” – a network of ships linked to the transport of Russian oil under Western sanctions.
According to Allkja, the Captaincy notified the ship of the stop while it was about 12 miles from Durres, preventing it from entering the port’s dock. “The ship received the notification yesterday from the Captaincy at a distance of 12 miles from Durres and is now continuing its voyage in the Adriatic Sea,” Allkja told BIRN.
Data published by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR), updated on June 10, 2026, identifies “Hanuman” as involved in the transportation of Russian oil products to third countries during the embargo and price restriction regime, known as the “price cap”, imposed by the G7 and the European Union.
Allkja said that, according to Ukrainian service data, in September 2025, the "Hanuman" transported more than 30 thousand tons of Russian oil products from the port of Novorossiysk to Turkey.
GUR says the tanker also made visits to the Sheskharis terminal in Novorossiysk, a key complex for Russian oil exports and the terminus of pipelines operated by Chernomortransneft, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned pipeline operator Transneft.
The so-called “shadow fleet” consists of a network of tankers that Russia uses to keep its oil exports moving after Western sanctions were imposed for its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. These ships often operate under third-country flags and have difficult-to-trace ownership structures.
The G7 countries and the European Union imposed a price cap on Russian oil transported by sea at the end of 2022, along with restrictions on insurance, financing and other transport-related services.
Albania, a candidate country for EU membership and a member of NATO, has aligned itself with European Union sanctions against Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Maritime traffic data shows that the tanker "Hanuman" had previously visited the port of Durres, in November 2025.
A BIRN investigation, published in May 2026, identified the tanker as part of a list of ships suspected of smuggling Russian oil or grain stolen from the occupied territories of Ukraine, which had visited Albanian ports since 2022, raising questions about the implementation of sanctions imposed by the Albanian government against Moscow.
