French soldiers have boarded a Russian tanker from the shadow fleet and are presently patrolling its deck. According to the AFP agency, citing aerial photos, the military are present on the unit after its detention on September 27.
The military origin confirmed that the tanker was detained last Saturday for inspection, and a suitable squad entered its deck. The French Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation into the fact that the unit's crew had not provided information on its affiliation and had not complied with the orders.
Followed by a warship
The tanker is presently being tracked by a French warship, as reported by the agency Reuters, citing data on ship traffic. A 244-meter-long unit flies the Benin flag and uses the names Boracay and Pushpa.
A ship built in 2007 sailed from Primorska, Leningrad, 137 kilometres (37 km) west of St. Petersburg on 20 September. He sailed through the Baltic, but on September 28, he turned around and took a course at Saint-Nazaire.
Suspects of drone operations
The presence of a tanker concerns not only due to its membership in the Kremel shadow fleet, but due to the fact that its name appeared in connection with the incidents of drones over Copenhagen and Norway. Following these incidents, 3 ships were identified in the Baltic, including the Pushpa tanker, although the Danish authorities did not confirm the connection with drone flights.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he would be "very careful" about a possible relation between the tanker and the drone incidents. Macron emphasized that through a fleet of shadows of 600 to 1,000 units, Russia is financing about 40 percent of its war effort during the invasion of Ukraine.
Multiple name changes
The diary "Ouest-France" reported that the oil tanker had changed names respective times since 2007, utilizing Odysseus, P. Fos, Kiwala and Varuna. He sailed under the flags of Gabon, Liberia, Marshall Islands and Mongolia.
According to a military origin from NATO, the oil tanker is on respective countries' sanctions lists for Russian oil transport and destabilising Ukraine. The UK authorities considered that the vessel is active in actions to destabilise Ukraine or to benefit from the Russian authorities.
International sanctions
The sanctions were imposed by the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, fresh Zealand and Switzerland. According to the EU, the unit is linked to the transport of Russian oil and oil products, as well as conducting "risk transport operations".
The diary "Le Parisien" stated that the tanker besides appears on the "black list" of another global countries. The case shows the scale of global action against the Russian shadow fleet bypassing sanctions imposed for invasion of Ukraine.
Sources used: "PAP" Note: This article has been edited with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
