The United States Naval Institute has reported that the Russian Navy has deployed warships from the Pacific fleet to escort civilian shipping in the East China Sea, guarding cargo against attempted armed seizures by the U.S. Armed Forces or strategic NATO partners.
This has occurred as the United States has escalated efforts to target Russian civilian shipping, and more broadly that from Iran and Venezuela as well.
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard units have since the beginning of the year conducted multiple forced boarding’s of civilian vessels in international waters, taking over cargo and the ships themselves in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and across multiple other major waterways.
It also follows reports from multiple Russian sources that the destruction of a Russian cargo ship off the coast of Spain in December 2024, which was carrying submarine nuclear reactors, is considered very likely to have been the result of Western sabotage.Â
The U.S. Naval Institute’s report speculated that speculates the ships in the East China Sea may be carrying high-value cargo, while observing that Russian civilian ships have begin traveling in guarded convoys in the region to avoid Western attacks.
In the past escorts were provided to specialized Russian Navy-owned cargo ships, state-run ships, and chartered civilian ships operating to support Russian military operations, the new threat of Western forced boarding’s and takeovers of civilian vessels has resulted in Russian naval vessels being assigned to escort non-military and non-state-owned ships.
This is expected to place significant further pressure on the Russian Navy, which since the disintegration of the Soviet Union has seen the capacities of its ocean-going surface fleet decline considerably.
In February 2026 influential aide to Kremlin and Chairman of the Russian Maritime Board Nikolai Patrushev assessed that a permanent naval presence was essential to prevent European countries from obstructing Russian civilian shipping’s access to international waters, stressing that the Navy was ready to use force to protect commercial vessels from Western attacks.
He added that Russia was considering establishing a greater permanent presence of naval assets to international shipping lanes.
Britain to create special anti-Russia Naval Force for Baltic Sea
If we don’t give them a tough rebuff, then soon the British, French and even the Baltic’s [Baltic states] will become arrogant to such an extent that they will try to block our country’s access to the seas at least in the Atlantic basin.
In the main maritime areas, including regions far from Russia, substantial forces must be permanently deployed – forces capable of cooling the ardor of Western pirates.
Earlier in February Russian Ambassador to Norway Nikolay Korchunov warned that NATO members were planning to impose a maritime blockade of the country, with Western plans aimed at restricting freedom of navigation and violates international law norms.
He warned that Western plans to use force to restrict Russian access to international waters represented a direct threat to the country’s national security, and would force Moscow to take countermeasures.
While European operations against civilian shipping have been concentrated on targeting Russian vessels, U.S. operations have widely targeted Iranian and Venezuelan civilian shipping, and in some cases ships from North Korea as well, with these operations being widely criticized as severe violations of international law.
While the U.S. Marine Corps has increased training aimed at targeting civilian shipping, the Coast Guard in May created a new Special Missions Command which appears intended to expand capabilities for similarly operations.
Western operations against adversaries’ civilian shipping are expected to continue to expand, and have been raised by analysts as viable policy options from the mid-2010’s.
A paper published by the U.S. Naval Institute itself in 2020 proposed hiring mercenary privateers to target Chinese civilian shipping to escalate hostilities against the country.
The targeting of shipping has not fully expanded to widely target Chinese shipping, which would represent a very considerable escalation as the country not only has a much larger merchant shipping fleet for Western forces to target, but also a much larger and more advanced ocean-going Navy that can retaliate.
The targeting of Chinese civilian shipping on a limited scale would be far from unprecedented, however, as highlighted in November 2025 when U.S. special forces boarded a cargo ship in the international waters in the Indian Ocean, securing, removing and destroying civilian goods that were being shipped from China to Iran.
Military Magazine / ABC Flash Point News 2026.
WW3 BEGINS !!! — exactly what the UK had to do in the Atlantic during WW2 go in protected convoys against U-boats , I would like to see Russia being a bit more forceful its the only thing Donald understands.
Continental WW 3 spreading onto the High Seas resembling WW 2 scenarios.