PARIS: The French navy boarded a vessel suspected of illegally smuggling oil in an operation off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday.
Macron vowed no let-up in the struggle against the “shadow fleet” — a term used for the clandestine network of ships used by Russia to circumvent Western embargoes since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“This morning, more than 450 nautical miles south of Reunion, our national Navy boarded the tanker DF Peak,” Macron posted on X along with a brief video of the operation.
Several European companies have intercepted ships carrying Russian oil in contravention of European sanctions, as they try to target the vital revenue source.
The DF Peak flies a Benin flag and is among the 700 ships on the EU’s sanctions list. Prior to 2024, it was called Kaliningrad.
New measures permit European Union members to sell the oil or any other cargo seized from the ships.
Moscow has bristled at the moves, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling it “piracy and banditry.”
The French president’s announcement comes amidst European concern regarding the future of the war in Ukraine, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement Friday that he had negotiated the delivery of Russian diesel to US and global markets, much to the dismay of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who condemned the breach of US sanctions as “shameful.”
For its part, the European Union has pledged to continue strengthening its own measures against Moscow, and its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, stated on Saturday that the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel was helping to fuel the Kremlin’s war.