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French forces intercepted a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.
In a post on social media, Macron said the navy intercepted the vessel “Deliver” as it was sailing off the coast of Sicily “in violation of maritime law”.
Macron shared video footage appearing to show troops boarding and searching the ship.
According to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, Deliver is a Cameroonian-flagged vessel that has been involved in the export of Russian oil since 2024, operating mainly out of ports in the Baltic and Black Sea.
Russia uses its shadow fleet to evade Western sanctions on its energy industry, which prevent Moscow from chartering or insuring oil tankers unless it complies with certain restrictions.
The shadow fleet bypasses these restrictions by making use of complex ownership structures, flags of convenience and other tactics designed to conceal the origin of its cargo.
It comes after the UK announced earlier this month that it had intercepted and boarded the Russian shadow fleet tanker “Smyrtos” in the English Channel.
The British government said the six-hour operation involved Royal Marine Commandos and law enforcement officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), with support from Chinook, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters, a Royal Air Force P-8 and the Royal Navy ships HMS Sutherland and HMS Ledbury.
“This latest action against the ‘shadow fleet’, carried out just a few days after a similar operation by the United Kingdom, illustrates the determination of Europeans,” Macron said on Thursday.
“We will not allow the ‘shadow fleet’ to circumvent sanctions and finance Russia’s war effort,” he added.
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