Emmanuel Macron/XFrance says it has seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker, named the Grinch, was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag”.
The French navy, with the assistance of allies, boarded the vessel on Thursday morning between Spain and Morocco. French maritime authorities said that a search of the vessel had “confirmed the doubts as to the regularity of the flag”.
Russia’s so-called shadow fleet is a clandestine network of tankers used to evade Western sanctions on Russian oil exports.
Announcing the interception on X, Macron said: “We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions.
“The activities of the “shadow fleet” contribute to financing the war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The French president added that an investigation had been launched and the vessel had been”diverted”.
The Grinch was travelling from the Arctic port of Murmansk in northern Russia when it was intercepted, French authorities said. The vessel had been flying a Comoros flag, according to ship tracking websites marinetraffic and vesselfinder.
The navies of other countries assisted the operation, according to French maritime police. A UK defence source confirmed Britain’s involvement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the action, saying it was “exactly the kind of resolve needed to ensure that Russian oil no longer finances Russia’s war”.
“Vessels must be apprehended. And wouldn’t it be fair to confiscate and sell the oil carried by these tankers?” he said on X.
Speaking at Davos earlier on Thursday, Zelensky criticised European leaders, saying “Europe loves to discuss the future but avoids taking action”.
French Joint Staff of the Armed ForcesFollowing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy. Moscow has been accused of dodging sanctions by shipping oil on aged tankers with obscure ownership or insurance.
Earlier in January, British armed forces supported a US operation to seize a Russian-flagged tanker in the Atlantic that US officials said had broken sanctions by carrying oil for Venezuela and Russia.
Moscow denounced the move, saying no state had the right to use force against vessels properly registered in other states’ jurisdictions.
Last October, France seized another sanctioned tanker, the Boracay, off its west coast before releasing it a few days later.
Shadow fleets are becoming increasingly common, with Venezuela, Iran and Russia all accused of using them to avoid sanctions on oil.
Financial intelligence firm S&P Global estimates that one in five oil tankers worldwide are used to smuggle oil from sanctioned countries. The ships are often ageing tankers and use false flags to try and avoid detection.
