Panic in Spain as number of Russian ships passing through Strait of Gibraltar soar

Spain has been urged to step up policing of its south coast after detecting high numbers of Russian ships (Image: Getty)

Worrying numbers of Russian ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar have sparked calls for Spain to intensify its maritime policing in the area. According to Michael Sanchez, a retired police officer and naval observer from Gibraltar, he spotted at least five Russian vessels crossing the Strait between December 30 and January 1. 

Two of the Russian ships spotted – arms carrier MV Lady Mariia and oil tanker MV Pluton – are on international sanctions lists from the US, the UK and Europe. "I have been tracking and logging Russian Navy and merchant ships for 10 years," Mr Sanchez said. "This is most unusual to say the least." The concerning pattern comes as experts have urged Spain to intensify its maritime patrols, warning that insufficient policing could leave the Strait vulnerable to operational and strategic threats.

On December 30, Mr Sanchez first observed the Russian-flagged MV Lady Mariia moving westward toward the Atlantic in view of Europa Point, Gibraltar. The ship, owned and operated by Russian maritime shipping company MG-FLOT, is on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list and has been involved in recent movements towing other vessels, such as the MV Kapitan Danilkin, off the coast of Algeria.

Later that day, the former police officer recorded the passage of the MV Stargazer, a Russian cargo ship, as it moved eastward toward the Mediterranean. On December 31, he noted the MV Kapitan Danilkin, a Russian merchant vessel, making its way west toward the Atlantic, approximately eight nautical miles off the coast of Gibraltar. The latter had been previously spotted alongside the Lady Mariia near Algeria.

On New Year's Day, the MV Pluton, a Russian oil tanker listed under sanctions by both the EU and the UK, was observed moving westward through the Strait of Gibraltar toward the Atlantic. Hours later, Mr Sanchez documented the MV Jagger, another Russian-flagged oil tanker, on the same route.

Spain has been accused of 'silently yielding control of the Strait’s southern bank to Morocco' (Image: Getty)

Naval and military historian Rafael Muñoz Abad has issued a chilling warning to Spain, claiming the southern European country was "silently yielding control of the Strait’s southern bank to Morocco, while monitoring only the northern bank and the exit into the Atlantic".

"A serious country cannot allow maritime voids within its sphere of influence," he added.

This new information comes barely a fortnight after Ukraine's Security Service (SSU) hit an oil tanker, Qendil, belonging to Russia's shadow fleet in neutral Mediterranean waters, while it was sailing off the coast of Libya on December 19. The Kremlin uses this shadow fleet to circumvent Western sanctions on the country's oil, a key source of income to finance its war in Ukraine.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the attack was a "new, unprecedented special operation".