France Intercepts Russian Oil Tanker in Mediterranean

French naval forces intercepted and boarded an oil tanker suspected of transporting sanctioned Russian crude in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron announced. The operation, conducted on the high seas with support from allies including the United Kingdom, targeted a vessel believed to be part of Russia's shadow fleet and flying a false flag.

The tanker, identified as the Grinch, had departed from the Russian port of Murmansk and was sailing under the Comoros flag. French officials described the ship as a 250-meter crude oil carrier with an Indian crew. Maritime authorities intercepted it off the southern Spanish coast near Almeria in the western Mediterranean. The vessel has been diverted to a French port for further inspection, and a judicial investigation has been opened.

Macron stated that the action complied fully with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. "We will not tolerate any violation," he wrote on social media, adding, "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."