France intercepts shadow fleet tanker linked to Russia
France’s navy intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to Russia’s oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean and ordered the ship to head to the French mainland; Russia said it was illegal and bordered on “international piracy”.
French President Emmanuel Macron released a video on Monday showing commandos rappelling from helicopters to Tagor during an operation the day before in international waters 740 km west of Brittany.
Macron said that the tanker, which set out from Russia’s Arctic port of Murmansk, was suspected of flying under a false flag and was stopped with the support of Britain. According to ship tracker MarineTraffic, the 252-meter-long tanker was sailing under the Madagascar flag.
France’s Maritime prefecture, the state authority responsible for maritime security, said the boarding team’s examination of the ship’s paperwork “confirmed suspicions of irregularities in the flying of the flag.”
Russia relies on older ships known as the shadow fleet to ship oil and gas to get around Western sanctions. France and Britain have vowed to block such ships as part of Europe’s strategy to combat oil revenues that help finance Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
“It is unacceptable that the ships circumvent international sanctions, violate maritime law and finance Russia’s war against Ukraine for more than four years,” Macron wrote to X.
According to the maritime prefecture, on Monday the Tagor was heading for an anchorage off northwestern France under naval escort.
Tagor is the fourth sanctioned tanker seized by the French.
The EU has imposed a package of 19 sanctions against Russia, but Moscow has complied with most of the measures and continues to sell millions of barrels of oil, often at discounted prices, to countries such as India and China.
Western sanctions and few interventions have had little apparent impact on the “shadow fleet” at a time when rising oil prices due to the Iran war have provided a major incentive for tankers.
Instead, it was Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil facilities that prevented Moscow from taking advantage of the rise in global fuel prices.
Moscow’s reaction to the takeover will be closely watched. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia would take measures to ensure the safety of cargo transportation in response to the incident.
In April, Russia deployed a frigate to escort two sanctioned ships across the English Channel, and the Kremlin said Russia had the right to defend itself against what it called piracy.
Days later, Estonia said it would refrain from detaining Russian shadow fleet tankers, concerned that such actions could provoke a military response from Moscow.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he allowed the British army to board ships belonging to the ‘shadow fleet’ in March.
But shipping data shows dozens of sanctioned ships continue to pass through UK waters.
