March 2 (UPI) — Belgium has seized a Russian oil tanker believed to be part of a shadow fleet of vessels the Kremlin uses to sell its energy products blocked by sanctions, Belgium’s defense minister said.
The armed forces of the European nation, with the support of French navy helicopters, boarded the oil tanker in the North Sea over the weekend, Defense Minister Theo Francken said in a statement.
The vessel was being escorted to the Belgian port city of Zeebrugge where it would be seized by authorities, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced that French helicopters were used in Operation Blue Intruder, published a 23-second video online of clips from the night siege edited together, showing soldiers rappelling down ropes from a helicopter to the vessel’s deck.
Macron described the mission as having dealt “a major blow to the shadow fleet.”
“Europeans are determined to cut off the sources of funding for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine by enforcing sanctions,” he said.
The vessel was identified by Belgian federal prosecutors as the Guinean flag-flying Ethera. The federal prosecutor’s office said it has opened an investigation into potential violations of the Belgian Navigation Code.
The office said an on-board inspection confirmed evidence of a “false flag,” public broadcaster RTBF reported, which said the operation was conducted over Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
The vessel had departed the Moroccan west coast port city of Mohammedia on Feb. 21 and arrived in Zeebrugge on Sunday morning, according to Marinetraffic.com.
British, European and U.S. governments had all previously sanctioned the vessel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said despite its repeated blacklisting, Ethera continued to illegally transport Russian oil with the use of a false flag and forged documents.
“We welcome this strong action against Moscow’s floating purse and thank France for supporting the operation,” he said in a social media statement.
“We must be resolute. Russia operates like a mafia organization, and the response must match that reality,” he continued, calling for modern European laws permitting tankers carrying Moscow oil to be seized and its oil repurposed for Europe’s security.
“If they reject the rules for the sake of war, the rules must foresee a clear and firm answer.”
The seizure comes as Europe has been targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of vessels to further increase the impact of sanctions.
Western allies have imposed thousands of sanctions on Russia over its four-year invasion of Ukraine. It is now the most blacklisted in the world.
Oil is a significant revenue source for the Kremlin, and Ukraine’s allies are trying to hinder is ability to pay for its war.
This shadow fleet consists of between 600 and 2,500 ships, according to an October 2025 document from the European Union. An S&P Global report from the month before estimated the fleet consisted of 978 tankers alone. Meanwhile, a Brookings report estimated the fleet comprised 343 tankers, though stating its true scope is likely far larger.
With the seizure, Belgium is the second European nation to detain a tanker of Russia’s shadow fleet. France became the first in January when its forces seized the Grinch oil tanker.