The French navy has boarded an oil tanker that was subject to international sanctions and sailing from Russia, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said.
Macron wrote on X: “This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea,.
“It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and finance the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,” he added. Macron said the tanker was named the Tagor.
The Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic said in a separate statement on Monday that the French navy had intervened on an oil tanker more than 400 nautical miles (740km) west of the tip of Brittany, coming from Murmansk, Russia.
“This operation was aimed at checking the nationality of a vessel suspected of flying a false flag. After the inspection team boarded the vessel, an examination of the documents confirmed suspicions regarding the irregularity of the flag flown. In accordance with international law and at the request of the public prosecutor, the vessel was diverted,” it said. It did not name the ship.
France and Britain have both vowed to obstruct ships linked to Russia’s sanctioned “shadow fleet” that pass through their waters. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced 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 ships linked to Russia and subject to sanctions continue to cross UK waters.