They can use 30-year old handysize rust buckets that can be cheaper than some cable repairs.

Jailing crews in comfy Scandinavian prisons can hardly be a strong deterrent either.

Russia is all-in on this confrontation, Europe is much wealthier but won't commit anywhere near the effort or expense.

Russia has an immense capacity to endure suffering and sacrifice lives. It’s basically their secret weapon.

	▲	edm0nd 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		yup. RU will literally wait decades and then send their lil KGB/GRU agents all around the world to assassinate you, chop you up, or poison you. they play the long game and never forget.

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nradov 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Many of the shadow fleet crew members aren't even Russians. Typically only the master and some officers are privy to the real mission. The other crew members are just random seamen hired from the usual poor countries so jailing them would be pointless.

	▲	jojobas an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Typically only the master and mates are liable for breaches like that? It's not that a boatswain, a C/E decides when to drop an anchor.