French officials have taken the Indian captain of a suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker into custody days after the oil tanker was seized.
On Thursday, the French navy intercepted the tanker – named the Grinch – which President Emmanuel Macron said was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag”.
The Grinch had been travelling through the Mediterranean Sea from the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk. It is now moored, under guard, at a southern French port near Marseille.
Although Moscow is yet to comment, Macron said on Thursday that the shadow fleet helped to “finance Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”.