Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

Watching Putin's Shadow Fleet | Remy Osman

Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs

Show Notes

Remy Osman joins Chris to unpack the strange, high-stakes world of Putin’s “shadow fleet”—the tankers and ghost ships helping Russia move oil and dodge sanctions. Remy traces how he got into ship-spotting during quarantine in Singapore, then explains how open-source sleuths identify suspicious vessels: “zombie” identities, odd tracking behavior, evasive paperwork, and patterns that don’t match legitimate trade. They dig into why Singapore sits at the center of global maritime traffic, what makes these aging tankers an environmental time bomb, and why enforcement is so legally and politically messy even when everyone can see what’s happening in plain sight.

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Secrets and Spies is produced by F & P LTD. Music by Andrew R. Bird Photo by Remy Osman Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.

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