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War on the Rocks ·Future-gazing

From Pyongyang to Primorsk: When Sanctions Evasion Becomes System Design

by Olivia Vassalotti

Published 2026-06-09 07:30:36+00:00

How did North Korea’s playbook for hiding ships become a scalable blueprint for the Russian economy?

0:00 / 18:20 · Narrator Sulafat

Context

Writing for War on the Rocks last week, Olivia Vassalotti looks past the headlines of seized tankers to trace the design of global sanctions evasion. The piece suggests that Russia’s massive shadow fleet isn't a sudden invention, but a scaled-up version of a playbook North Korea spent years perfecting. It shifts the focus from individual vessels to the permissive maritime registries and flag-hopping tactics that remain profitable for the institutions involved. The central question is why these structural gaps stay open even after the methods used to exploit them are well-documented.

Show notes

A comparative study of the maritime evasion tactics used by North Korea and Russia to bypass international sanctions via shadow fleets. It details how both nations exploit systemic vulnerabilities in global shipping registries, including the use of flags of convenience and fraudulent registrations. Tracing the evolution of these methods from North Korea’s small-scale operations to Russia’s industrial-scale system, it evaluates the institutional incentives that allow such networks to persist.

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