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(Bloomberg) -- Owners of oil tankers calling at Russian ports are sending divers and underwater drones to check their ships’ hulls for mines — a precaution following a wave of unexplained explosions on ships.

At least two shipowners have had their tankers’ hulls examined for explosives in recent weeks because the vessels went to Russia, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the work isn’t being publicized. The inspections are done with human divers or underwater vehicles operated from the surface.

The unconventional step demonstrates a heightened sense of risk about sending ships to Russia, after at least four vessels were hit with explosions in the Mediterranean and the Baltic this year after visiting the country’s ports. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, which come as the US pushes for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

At least one Italian port authority has indefinitely raised security to a level indicating heightened risk of a security incident, following explosions that hit a tanker near Savona. A Greek investigation into a similar blast is ongoing.

Russia’s Security Council last week advised the government to increase the “efficiency” of protection at ports and monitoring of foreign states that could threaten maritime infrastructure.

At least one inspection happened in Russia while others have taken place at different locations around the world, the people said.

To be clear, some owners are skeptical of using divers. The opportunities to mine vessels are too great, and the chances of inspections being successful are too remote to make hull checks useful, said an official at another tanker company, who also asked not to be identified.

Russia and Ukraine have frequently struck each other’s energy infrastructure over the course of the war, which entered its fourth year earlier this month. Most recently, Moscow has targeted Ukrainian gas production facilities, while Kyiv’s drones hit a pumping station that helps move Kazakh crude through a conduit run by Caspian Pipeline Consortium to the port near Novorossiysk.