French Navy boards Russia's 'shadow fleet' oil tanker in Mediterranean Sea, Macron says
French Navy boarded a so-called Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker on Jan. 22, French President Emmanuel Macron said on X.
The move comes as Ukraine's European partners step up efforts to counter Russia's "shadow fleet," a network of oil tankers used to circumvent international sanctions imposed over Moscow's aggression against Ukraine. The fleet allows the Kremlin to continue exporting oil despite the restrictions.
Macron wrote that on the morning of Jan. 22, the French Navy conducted an operation to board an oil tanker arriving from Russia.
The action took place on the high seas in the Mediterranean and was supported by several allies of France, according to Macron.
The tanker is reportedly subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag, Macron said, adding that a judicial investigation has been opened and the tanker has been diverted.
"We will not tolerate any violation," Macron said. "We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions."
"The activities of the 'shadow fleet' contribute to financing the war of aggression against Ukraine," the French president added.
Alexander Kirk, a sanctions campaigner at the NGO Urgewald, highlighted the efforts of France and the U.K. in intercepting the sanctioned tanker.
"Aging oil tankers are a direct threat to Europe's shorelines and to the people who live and work along them," Kirk told the Kyiv Independent.
"This is how you protect the people of Ukraine and help stop Putin's war machine, by making sanctions bite," he added.
European governments have signaled tougher measures in recent months to curb such practices.
On Sept. 28, 2025, the French Navy also intercepted and diverted a Russian "shadow fleet" vessel suspected of launching drones into European airspace to the coast of western France.
The efforts by European countries to counter Russia's "shadow fleet" coincide with a tightening of U.S. policy aimed at tightening control over Venezuela's oil trade.
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the sanctioned oil tanker Olina on Jan. 9, marking at least the fifth tanker seized by U.S. authorities in recent weeks as part of a broader campaign to enforce sanctions and disrupt illicit oil shipments linked to Russia and Venezuela.
