Six shadow tankers have deviated from their usual maritime paths in recent days with five gathered off the coast of Kaliningrad and one entering the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the North Atlantic. Suspicion exists that these ships, including the Iranian-affiliated NORNS which obfuscates draught data, are engaged in ship-to-ship (STS) oil transfers to disguise oil origin or potentially preparing for hybrid warfare activities. ATMOS, presently in Irish EEZ, is likely false flagged and is considered vulnerable to inspection by Irish and NATO navies. This gathering is highly irregular as these tankers typically only go to Primorsk or Ust-Luga before sailing to Asian buyers. Previous Western intelligence has implied similar vessels might have been outfitted for hybrid warfare near Kaliningrad, notably NewNew Polar Bear linked to undersea cable attacks.

Six shadow tankers have deviated from their usual maritime paths in recent days with five gathered off the coast of Kaliningrad and one entering the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the North Atlantic. Suspicion exists that these ships, including the Iranian-affiliated NORNS which obfuscates draught data, are engaged in ship-to-ship (STS) oil transfers to disguise oil origin or potentially preparing for hybrid warfare activities. ATMOS, presently in Irish EEZ, is likely false flagged and is considered vulnerable to inspection by Irish and NATO navies. This gathering is highly irregular as these tankers typically only go to Primorsk or Ust-Luga before sailing to Asian buyers. Previous Western intelligence has implied similar vessels might have been outfitted for hybrid warfare near Kaliningrad, notably NewNew Polar Bear linked to undersea cable attacks.