Russian 'ghost ships' linked to Syrian arm shipments dodge Ukrainian attacks

Report co-author Jack Crawford, an open-source intelligence and analysis researcher at RUSI, said greater scrutiny of Russian activity, including the Sparta IV and its sister ships, was forcing behaviour changes. “It seems like it was easier for these vessels to get away with this illicit behaviour before people started to look into what was going on and talking about it, but now that’s obviously starting to change, and not a moment too soon,” he told The National.