France’s navy has intercepted the Tagor, a sanctioned tanker linked to Russia’s oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean, and directed it to sail to mainland France, a move Moscow condemned as unlawful and akin to “international piracy.”
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron shared a video on X showing naval commandos descending from helicopters onto the vessel during an operation carried out a day earlier in international waters, about 400 miles (740 km) west of Brittany.
The tanker, which had sailed from Russia’s Arctic port of Murmansk, was suspected of flying under a false flag, and was intercepted with support from Britain, Macron said. According to the vessel tracker MarineTraffic, the 252-metre-long tanker was sailing under the flag of Madagascar.
France’s Maritime prefecture, the state authority for maritime security, said the boarding team’s inspection of the vessel’s papers had “confirmed suspicions regarding the irregularity of the flag flown.”
Russia has used a so-called “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers to bypass Western sanctions and continue exporting oil and gas. France and Britain have pledged to crack down on these vessels to curb revenues supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The Tagor, the fourth sanctioned tanker intercepted by France, was being escorted by the French navy to an anchorage off northwestern France on Monday.
False Flag
The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia, but Moscow has adapted to most measures and continues to sell millions of barrels of oil to countries such as India and China, typically at discounted prices.
Western sanctions and a small number of interceptions have had little obvious impact on the ‘shadow fleet’ at a time oil prices pushed higher by the Iran war offer tankers a big incentive. Instead it is the Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities that are stopping Moscow from capitalising on the spike in global fuel prices.
Russia Warns of Response
Moscow’s reaction to the seizure will be closely watched. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday Russia would take measures to ensure the safety of shipping cargo in response to the incident.
In April, Russia deployed a frigate to escort two sanctioned vessels through 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, worried that such actions could provoke a military response from Moscow.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in March that he had granted permission for the UK military to board ships belonging to the ‘shadow fleet’. However, shipping data shows that dozens of sanctioned vessels have continued to cross UK waters.
In April, owners of the Mozambique-flagged tanker Deyna paid an undisclosed fine to secure the ship’s release after it was detained by France.
(With inputs from Reuters)
