France says it has seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean that it suspects is part of Russia’s sanctions-violating ‘shadow fleet’.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker, named the Grinch, was “under international sanctions and accused of flying a false flag.”
The French navy, with support from allies including Britain, boarded the vessel between Spain and Morocco on Thursday morning. French maritime authorities said a search of the vessel “confirmed suspicions about the regularity of the flag.”
The Russian embassy in Paris said it had not yet been notified of the seizure.
Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet is a secret network of tankers used to evade Western sanctions on Russian crude oil exports by transporting crude oil on older tankers with unclear ownership or insurance.
The Grinch was captured while sailing from the Arctic port of Murmansk in northern Russia, French authorities said. The vessel was flying the Comoros flag, according to ship-tracking websites Marinetraffic and Vesselfinder.
“We are determined to uphold international law and ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions,” President Macron said when announcing the seizure of X.
“The activities of the ‘Shadow Fleet’ are contributing to the financing of a war of aggression against Ukraine,” he said, adding that the ships had been diverted.
Defense Secretary John Healey said the Royal Navy had provided “tracking and surveillance” support with HMS Dagger monitoring oil tankers transiting the Strait of Gibraltar.
“Together with our allies, we are strengthening our response to shadow vessels to intercept the funding fueling President Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
Britain imposed sanctions on 544 ships in Russia’s reserve fleet.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the move, calling it “a necessary resolution to ensure that Russian oil can no longer finance Russian wars.”
“The vessel must be arrested. And wouldn’t it be fair to seize and sell the oil these tankers are carrying?” He said at
Earlier, in his Davos speech, Prime Minister Zelenskyy said, “Europe likes to discuss the future, but avoids taking action,” and recommended that Europe take more steps to ensure its own security.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Western countries imposed sanctions on Russian energy.
In early January, British troops supported a U.S. operation in the Atlantic to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker that U.S. officials said was violating sanctions by transporting oil to Venezuela and Russia.
Moscow condemned the move, saying no country has the right to use force against ships registered under another country’s jurisdiction.
Last October, France seized another sanctioned oil tanker, the Boracay, off the west coast and released it a few days later.
Shadow fleets are becoming increasingly common, with Venezuela, Iran and Russia all accused of using them to evade oil sanctions.
Financial intelligence firm S&P Global estimates that one in five oil tankers worldwide are used to smuggle oil from sanctioned countries.
