France Intercepts Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker Tagor
The French navy intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to the Russian oil trade in international waters 400 miles west of Brittany. The vessel was suspected of flying a false flag to circumvent Western sanctions and is now being escorted to the French mainland under naval guard.
France intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to the Russia oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean. The 252-meter vessel, Tagor, is the fourth sanctioned tanker seized by French forces as Europe targets energy revenues funding the war in Ukraine. French commandos boarded the ship during an operation on Sunday, May 31, in international waters 740 kilometers west of Brittany.
The tanker had departed from the Arctic port of Murmusk and was flying the flag of Madagascar to conceal its origin. A "shadow fleet" refers to old vessels that Russia uses to skirt Western sanctions and ship its oil and gas abroad. Inspections by the boarding team confirmed suspicions regarding the irregularity of the vessel's documentation.
