France intercepts sanctioned tanker that departed Russian port
June 1 (UPI) — French President Emmanuel Macron said the country’s navy intercepted a sanctioned crude oil tanker that departed from a Russian port.
Macron wrote on X that a ship called the Tagor was seized Sunday by the French navy “in international waters, with the support of several partners including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea.”
The Tagor, registered in Madagascar, departed from the Russian port of Umba and appeared on ship tracking sites in the North Atlantic last week, CNN reported.
The European Union, Britain and the United States have all sanctioned the Tagor.
“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 wrote. “These vessels, which fail to adhere to the most basic rules of maritime navigation, also pose a threat to the environment and to everyone’s safety.”
The Tagor is the third ship to be seized on suspicion of being part of a Russian shadow fleet. An oil tanker was intercepted by France between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco in Morocco. Another was intercepted by Belgium with French assistance in March.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov released a statement that Sunday’s seizure was “illegal, bordering on international piracy.”
“We absolutely disagree that they are being carried out in full compliance with international law,” Peskov said of the seizures.
The Russian embassy in Paris told Russian state-run news agency TASS that the captain of the Tagor is believed to be a Russian citizen, and the embassy has requested information from French officials about whether other Russian citizens were present on the vessel.
