The French navy has boarded a tanker from Russia's "ghost fleet" in the Atlantic

Yesterday morning, the French navy boarded the Tagor, an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s “ghost fleet”, in international waters more than 400 nautical miles – or 740 kilometres – west of Brittany. The vessel was en route from Murmansk, in north-western Russia, and the operation was carried out with the support of the United Kingdom and several other partners.

Emmanuel Macron announced the seizure and released a video showing commandos descending from a helicopter onto the tanker’s deck. “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,” the president wrote on X. He deemed it 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.

The Tagor was flying a false Cameroonian flag and was heading for Limbe, a coastal town in western Cameroon, according to the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture. After the inspection team boarded the vessel, an examination of the documents confirmed the irregularity of the flag, and the ship was diverted at the request of the public prosecutor. The tanker, subject to sanctions by the European Union and the United States, was “known and monitored”, and “virtually empty” at the time of the boarding.

Moscow reacted strongly. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described these actions as “illegal”, bordering on “international piracy”, and assured that Russia was taking measures to guarantee the safety of its cargo. The Russian embassy in Paris requested information on any Russian nationals on board, as the captain is, according to the embassy, a Russian citizen.

Since September, France has boarded three other vessels suspected of belonging to this fleet, including the Boracay, the Grinch and the Deyna, which were allowed to leave after paying fines. Nearly 600 vessels suspected of being part of the fleet are subject to European sanctions. The Guardian

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