French navy intercepts suspected Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker in Mediterranean

The French Navy has intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected to be part of the “shadow fleet” that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions.“This morning, the French Navy boarded and searched an oil tanker from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag,” President Emmanuel Macron said on X.“The operation was carried out on the high seas in the Mediterranean, with the support of several of our allies,” he added, saying the vessel had been “diverted”.The tanker, Grinch, is the latest in a series of Russian-linked ships to be intercepted by the US and European powers in recent months. It was located between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco in the western Mediterranean and then diverted, the French maritime police said in a separate statement.“After the team boarded, an examination of documents confirmed the doubts as to the regularity of the flag,” the Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture said.The ship “is currently being escorted by the national navy to a point of anchorage for further verifications”, it added.The EU has imposed 19 packages of sanctions against Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 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.The term “shadow fleet” describes hundreds of unregulated ageing tankers from around the world in varying states of repair carrying oil from Russia to states including China and India. Many move under various identities and change flags to circumvent western economic sanctions imposed on Moscow. The tanker intercepted on Thursday was sailing from Murmansk in northern Russia reportedly under a Comoros flag.The global shadow fleet includes 1,423 tankers, of which 921 are subject to US, British or European sanctions, according to analysis from the maritime data specialist Lloyd’s List Intelligence. They sail without the top-tier insurance cover needed to meet international standards for oil majors and many ports.Paris had not notified the Russian embassy about the interception, the Russian news agency Tass reported on Thursday, citing the embassy.“At the moment, together with diplomats from the consulate general in Marseille, we are trying to find out whether there are any Russian citizens among the crew members in order to provide the necessary assistance,” the embassy said.Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcomed the interception, saying such action was “exactly the kind of resolve needed” to stop Russian oil revenues from financing war in Ukraine.“Vessels must be apprehended. And wouldn’t it be fair to confiscate and sell the oil carried by these?” he said on X.Macron said the activities of the shadow fleet contributed to financing of Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine”.Washington and European powers have intensified efforts to crack down on the shadow fleet in recent months.In October, France detained another sanctioned tanker, the Boracay, off its west coast and released it after a few days. The ship, which claimed to be flagged in Benin, is also suspected of being used to launch drones that closed airports across Denmark last year. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, condemned the interception as “piracy”.In December, Donald Trump imposed a naval blockade on sanctions-busting tankers operating near Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves. Last month, US special forces rappelled from helicopters to board the Skipper, a tanker off Venezuela that the US treasury had placed under sanctions in 2022.Earlier this month, the Marinera, a Russian-registered and flagged tanker, was stopped by the US Coast Guard in waters between Iceland and Scotland. Russia dispatched naval assets, including a submarine, to escort the tanker, and a British Royal Air Force spy plane appears to have flown over its path.US officials said the vessel was used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to avoid western sanctions.