As part of the Security and Defence Strategy for the Mediterranean published in May 2022 by the Ministry of Defence, the Italian Navy announced that it has decided to expand the scope of Operation Mare Sicuro. This will translate into a considerable increase in the area covered by surveillance missions and a particular focus on the activities of Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the region. According to official channels, the service will now cover more than 2,000,000 square kilometres instead of the 160,000 originally envisaged under the operation, thereby encompassing most of the Mediterranean’s international maritime space.
Regarding the decision, the Marina Militare stated: “This will allow the Navy to guarantee a structured naval air presence, including underwater vehicles, across all the most crucial sectors of the region, including the Eastern Mediterranean, which is particularly significant in relation to the need to protect major national interests and contribute to international stability, in cooperation with NATO, the European Union, the United Nations, and the other coalitions and alliances of which Italy is a member.”
Going into some relevant details, the operation—renamed “Mediterraneo Sicuro” following the changes—will involve the deployment of up to six ships and submarines as part of the naval component, complemented by aircraft from both the Navy and the Air Force to support their tasks. Taken together, this force will have as its main objectives ensuring the protection of Italy’s commercial interests on the high seas, as well as safeguarding the undersea domain, especially in defence of vital lines of communication—one of the areas the European Union has refocused on since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Moreover, the Marina Militare noted that expanding the operation’s operational reach will open new ways to combat transnational crime, while also enabling work to improve cooperation mechanisms with other forces through naval exercises—both nationally and internationally. As an illustrative example, it is worth recalling that last year the service took part in a broad array of exercises, including Mediterranean Strike 25 alongside a Royal Navy force led by HMS Prince of Wales.
Brief history of Operation Mare Sicuro
While the current news centres on the expansion of the area originally covered by Mare Sicuro, it is useful to recall that this operation has been underway since March 2015, at the height of the Libyan crisis. At the time, Rome tasked the Italian Navy with ensuring a naval presence in the region in order to contribute to monitoring developments inside the North African country, as well as protecting maritime traffic in the Central Mediterranean and the Strait of Sicily.
By late December 2017, the first expansion of the operation’s tasks and areas was launched through a Council of Ministers resolution, which translated into increased cooperation with Libya’s Coast Guard and Navy in control activities linked to the growing migratory flow, as well as illegal activities such as human trafficking. Of the six warships deployed by the Marina Militare for this purpose (along with five aircraft), one was specifically designated to provide technical support to Libyan forces, which have considerably more limited capabilities. The same applied to a logistics support ship.
Russia’s “shadow fleet”
To provide an initial overview of what is known in Western circles as Russia’s “shadow fleet,” it refers to a substantial number of second-hand oil tankers, generally acquired through companies and processes that are not very transparent, often in countries not yet affected by the sanctions imposed on Moscow since the start of its advance into Ukraine. By sailing under flags of convenience—such as those of Gabon or the Cook Islands—changing routes, and engaging in other similar manoeuvres, Russia is able to partially continue its oil-related commercial activities and thus maintain revenues that Brussels and Washington seek to choke off.
While the exact number encompassed by this label is unknown, estimates by Western think tanks (for example, the Kyiv School of Economics’ Institute) point to a fleet of more than 500 vessels capable of performing such tasks, many of them with routes traceable to Russian oil terminals or those of allied nations. Some assessments nearly double this figure in their estimates. However, in many cases the true owners are unknown, as is whether the vessels carry all the insurance required under international regulations.
As an illustrative example, it is useful to refer to the case of the tanker Bella 1, a vessel recently seized by U.S. forces in an operation led by the Coast Guard and supported by British units. At the time, UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated: “This ship, with a notorious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion that fuels terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine.” He added that London had intelligence reporting indicating links to the terrorist group Hezbollah, while during tracking prior to its seizure the crew changed the vessel’s flag and switched off its transponder in an attempt to avoid being tracked.
Image credits: Marina Militare
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