Russian signal spoofing creates ‘phantom’ ships in Gulf of Finland — report

According to Marine Traffic, an online service that tracks ship movements in real time, oil tankers, cargo vessels, and tugboats seem to be moving in a wide circle. However, Finnish Coast Guard officials say no ships are present in those locations.

Officials believe the anomaly is likely caused by either manipulated AIS signals—the system by which vessels share navigation and identification information—or by GPS spoofing. The false data gives the impression that certain vessels are not where they are.

OSINT (open-source intelligence) analysts with the Geoinsider project reported that similar incidents have occurred in the region at least since 2024. Experts link these events to the activities of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” which the Kremlin uses to evade oil trade sanctions and obscure its presence in the region.

On May 15, Estonia’s navy reported an incident involving Jaguar—a crude oil tanker under UK sanctions which was sailing without a national flag. When the Estonian fleet ordered the ship to stop, the crew refused to cooperate and maintained their course in international waters. In response, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet approached the tanker, circled it, and briefly entered Estonia’s airspace.