Kremlin calls seizure ‘international piracy’

AFP, Brest

France said yesterday it had detained a Russia-linked oil tanker in the Atlantic, with the Kremlin comparing the latest seizure aimed at tackling Moscow’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet to “international piracy”.

Since September, France has boarded three other ships believed to belong to the shadow fleet, used by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions on its fossil fuel exports imposed over the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Tagor was detained on Sunday morning in international waters with the help of Britain and other partners, after its Russian captain refused to comply with orders, prosecutors said.

President Emmanuel Macron posted a video of the seizure, which showed commandos rappelling from a helicopter onto the ship. “We consider these acts illegal. They border on international piracy,” said President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

“Russia is taking measures to ensure the safety of its cargo”. Suspected of carrying Russian or Iranian oil despite international sanctions, the Tagor is linked to petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

According to French authorities, the Tagor was on its way from Murmansk in northwestern Russia when it was boarded. The ship was falsely flying a Cameroonian flag and was heading toward Limbe, a seaside city in the west of African country, said a spokesperson for France’s Atlantic maritime prefecture. Shadow fleet vessels frequently change flags they fly or use invalid registrations in an attempt to escape tracking.

“It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,” Macron said on X.