French navy boards a tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of being part of Russia's shadow fleet

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PARIS (AP) — The French navy on Friday intercepted and boarded a tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that President Emmanuel Macron said is linked to Russia’s sanctioned shadow fleet shipping oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow's war on Ukraine.

According to the French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean, the tanker Deyna is suspected of operating under a false flag designation. The interception took place in the Western Mediterranean and was carried out in cooperation with allies, including the United Kingdom, which monitored the ship, the authorities said.

“This operation aimed to verify the nationality of the vessel,” which was flying the flag of Mozambique and was coming from the Russian port of Murmansk, the maritime authorities said in a statement. The documents found onboard “confirmed doubts about the validity of the flag,” they said.

The tanker was diverted and escorted by the French navy to an anchorage point for further checks, the statement said and the case was referred to a prosecutor in the port of Marseille.

In a post on X, Macron called the Deyna a “shadow fleet” vessel.

“These vessels, which circumvent international sanctions and violate the law of the sea, are war profiteers. They seek to generate profits and finance Russia’s war effort,” Macron said. “We won't let this happen.”

Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade sanctions over its war against Ukraine. France and other countries have vowed to crack down.

In January, France’s navy intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean sailing from Russia. The vessel was released last month after paying a multimillion-euro penalty.

Last September, French naval forces boarded another oil tanker off France's Atlantic coast that Macron also linked to the shadow fleet. Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced that interception as an act of piracy.