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The French National Navy intercepted the tanker Tagor this Sunday morning, which is part of the so-called "ghost fleet" of Russia and is subject to international sanctions, in Atlantic waters more than 400 nautical miles west of the tip of Brittany.
President Emmanuel Macron announced the operation this Monday via his social media, emphasizing that France's commitment to enforcing sanctions is "constant and total."
The Tagor was coming from the Russian port of Murmansk and was heading to Limbe, Cameroon, flying the flag of that African country.
The French Navy suspected that it was a false flag and boarded the vessel under the Montego Bay Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allows for the inspection of ships at sea when there is reasonable suspicion that they are sailing without legitimate nationality.
"The examination of the documents confirmed the concerns regarding the irregularity of the flagged ensign," specified the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture.
The captain of the ship, who is Russian, "repeatedly refused to comply with the instructions" of the French military, which made "the takeover of the vessel necessary," according to the prosecutor in Brest, Stéphane Kellenberger.
The Brest Prosecutor's Office, responsible for maritime matters, has opened a criminal investigation for lack of a flag and refusal to obey, assigned to the Maritime Gendarmerie.
The vessel, with 23 crew members on board, was escorted to an anchorage point to continue the inspections, a process that will take between 24 and 48 hours due to its distance.
The operation received support from several international partners, including the United Kingdom, and was conducted, according to Macron, "in strict adherence to maritime law."
Macron described it as "unacceptable" that these vessels evade international sanctions and finance "the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years," also warning that they represent "a threat to the environment and to everyone's safety."
Russia responded harshly: the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, described the operation as "international piracy" and declared it illegal during his daily press conference.
"We consider these actions illegal, bordering on international piracy. We completely disagree with the claims that this corresponds with international law," Peskov stated, adding that Moscow will take measures to protect its assets.
This is the third ship of the Russian phantom fleet intercepted by France so far in 2026, and the fourth since September 2025.
The tanker Grinch was the first, captured in the Alboran Sea on January 22; the Deyna was intercepted on March 20 in the western Mediterranean, also under suspicion of operating with a false flag to transport sanctioned Russian crude; and the Boracay was boarded in September 2025 off the coast of Saint-Nazaire.
The Russian ghost fleet had approximately 978 ships in 2025, equivalent to 18.5% of the world's tanker tonnage, and constitutes a central source of financing for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
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