France’s Navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia.
Officials said that the interception was in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet.
French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag.
The French Navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.
The French mission was conducted together with the UK, which gathered and shared intelligence that enabled the ship to be intercepted, according to French military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation.
The ship was operating under a false flag from the Comoros islands, which are off east Africa, and its crew is Indian, the officials said.
It was intercepted in the western Mediterranean, off the southern Spanish coastal town of Almeria, the officials said.
Oil revenue is a key part of Russia’s economy, allowing President Vladimir Putin to pour money into the war effort against Ukraine without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.
France and other countries have vowed to crack down on the sanction-busting shadow fleet of oil tankers which experts estimate numbers over 400 ships.
They are also trying to secure deals with flag-carrying countries to make it easier to board the vessels.
The shadow fleet’s aging tankers are bought used, often by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries, and sailing under flags from non-sanctioning countries.
France Determined To Ensure Effective Enforcement Of Sanctions
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post about the interception, “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.”
Emmanuel Macron
Last September, French naval forces boarded another oil tanker off the French Atlantic coast that Macron also linked to the shadow fleet. That tanker traveled from the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk near Saint Petersburg.
Known as “Pushpa” or “Boracay” — its name was changed several times — the ship was sailing under the flag of Benin.
Putin denounced that interception as an act of piracy and alleged that Macron initiated the move to deflect attention from French domestic problems.
The tanker’s captain will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, according to French judicial authorities.
Meanwhile, French prosecutors said on Friday, January 23, 2026, that they opened an investigation into an oil tanker intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by the French navy and suspected of shipping Russian petroleum in violation of sanctions against Moscow.
Prosecutors in the southern French city of Marseille said that they were investigating the ship’s alleged failure to confirm its nationality.
A video provided by the French military show members of the navy boarding the ship from a helicopter.
Russia is believed to be using what has been described as a “shadow fleet” of over 400 ships to evade sanctions over its war on Ukraine.
The fleet is a compilation of aging vessels and tankers owned by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries, and sailing under flags from such countries.
Nonetheless, the interception underscores how European allies are tightening coordination to enforce sanctions on Moscow, signalling that the Mediterranean is no longer a safe passage for vessels suspected of skirting restrictions as pressure mounts on Russia’s shadow fleet.
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