French Navy detains tanker sailing from russia

This was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron.

‘This morning, the French Navy detained a russian oil tanker that is subject to international sanctions and is suspected of flying a false flag,’ he wrote on X.

‘This operation was carried out on the high seas, in the Mediterranean, with the assistance of several of our allies,’ Macron said.

According to him, a judicial investigation has been launched and the ship has been redirected.

‘We are determined to uphold international law and ensure the effective implementation of sanctions,’ the French president said.

He added that the activities of the ‘shadow fleet’ contribute to the financing of the aggressive war against Ukraine.

It later became known that the tanker of russia's ‘shadow fleet’ detained by France is the oil tanker Grinch, which was sailing from Murmansk under a false flag.

This was reported by the Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture of France, according to European Pravda.

The detention was carried out in the Alboran Sea, the western part of the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar in the east, on the basis of Article 110 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The operation was aimed at verifying the ownership of the vessel, as it was suspected of flying a false flag.

A check of the documents on board confirmed the suspicions of the French authorities, which were reported to the prosecutor in Marseille.

‘In accordance with international law and at the request of the Republic's prosecutor, the ship was removed from its route on 22 January and is being escorted by the national navy to a parking area for further inspection,’ the communiqué said.

Sources told French BFMTV that the ship was sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands. It also appears under this flag on maritime traffic tracking websites. The tanker often carried oil to ports in China and India.

BFMTV notes that the Grinch is listed under this name in the British list of FR ‘shadow fleet’ tankers, and in the European and American lists as Carl.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda, Ekonomichna Pravda