France seizes Russian 'shadow fleet' tanker Tagor in the Atlantic with UK support

The French Navy intercepted and seized the sanctioned Russian oil tanker Tagor in the Atlantic, ordering the vessel to head for the French mainland in an operation President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday. Officers boarded the ship -- which maritime authorities said was flying a false flag -- about 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of Brittany on Sunday, and Macron posted video on X showing commandos rappelling from helicopters onto the deck. "It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine," he wrote.

The Tagor had departed the Russian port of Murmansk and is suspected of belonging to Moscow's "shadow fleet" of aging, obscurely owned tankers used to evade the oil sanctions imposed since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The operation was carried out with UK support: a Royal Navy helicopter from HMS Somerset provided tracking and monitoring, the British Ministry of Defence said. "Alongside our allies, we are stepping up our response to shadow vessels -- to choke off the funds that fuel Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine," an MoD spokesperson said, noting that Britain had recently expanded its powers to detain such ships.

Moscow reacted angrily. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the seizure "illegal" and said it bordered on "international piracy," adding that Russia was "taking measures to ensure the safety of its cargo" and would act "in light of this negative experience." Russia's envoy in Paris said the Tagor's captain was a Russian citizen.

The boarding was France's fourth of a suspected shadow-fleet vessel since September 2025, and Macron said it had been conducted "in strict compliance with the law of the sea." European capitals have intensified their crackdown on sanctions evasion at sea: a French court sentenced a ship's captain in March for operating a Russian vessel, and in early May Sweden's coast guard detained a sanctioned tanker off Trelleborg. The Tagor is being escorted to a French anchorage for further checks.