Paris has detained an oil tanker it claims to be part of the \u201cRussian shadow fleet\u201d<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced France\u2019s detention of an oil tanker that it claims carried Russian cargo as \u201cpiracy,\u201d noting the seizure took place in neutral waters without justification.
\nSpeaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin argued that investigators were searching for \u201cmilitary cargo, drones, or something of that kind,\u201d but insisted \u201cnone of that is there, never was, and never could be.\u201d
\nMedia reports have suggested the investigation may be linked to unidentified drones spotted near Danish airports and military sites last month. There have been suggestions that the UAVs may have been Russian, an accusation Moscow has denied.
\nPutin also noted that the tanker was sailing under a foreign flag with an international crew, questioning whether it had any connection to Russia at all.
\nThe vessel in question, the Boracay, is sanctioned by the EU and was sailing under a Benin flag when French naval forces boarded it last week. It remains anchored near Saint-Nazaire, with its captain and first mate in custody as prosecutors investigate \u201cserious irregularities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
France claims to have detained \u2018Russian shadow fleet\u2019 tanker<\/p>\n
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized France for speaking \u201cin the language of riddles,\u201d pointing to the lack of specifics in the accusations. She argued that the EU invented the concept of a \u201cshadow fleet\u201d in violation of maritime law and is now attempting to impose \u201cillegal\u201d secondary sanctions worldwide.
\nThe EU maintains that Russia relies on a clandestine network of tankers to skirt restrictions on oil exports imposed after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Officials in Brussels say the fleet, often using flags of convenience and opaque ownership structures, poses security and environmental risks while sustaining Moscow\u2019s revenues. The bloc has blacklisted certain ships, tightened port inspections, and pressured third countries and companies to avoid dealings with Russia as part of its broad sanctions campaign against the country.
\nPutin has suggested that the detention of the vessel was an attempt by the French leadership to distract attention from the country\u2019s domestic problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris has detained an oil tanker it claims to be part of the \u201cRussian shadow fleet\u201d Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced France\u2019s detention of an oil tanker that it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t