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If there are Russian security-related personnel on board these vessels, they may help incentivise non-cooperation with coastal states or assist in producing fraudulent documentation. Their role may be to ensure missions continue smoothly while avoiding longer and more costly routes.”

Ukraine’s defence ecosystem is turbocharged by initiatives like the Brave1 military tech marketplace, where units purchase what they know works well,” explained Robert Tollast, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. “Their will for survival and lethality drives efficiency.”

If there are Russian security-related personnel on board these vessels, they may help incentivise non-co-operation with coastal states or assist in producing fraudulent documentation,” said Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute. “That may also partly explain why these personnel appear to serve security functions while remaining formally unarmed. Arming them openly could amount to militarising the vessel. Instead, it creates a kind of ambiguity — presenting the ship as civilian while potentially embedding state-linked personnel onboard.”