France's navy has intercepted a sanctioned tanker linked to the Russian oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean and ordered the vessel to head for the French mainland, in a move Russia said was illegal and bordered on "international piracy".
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday posted a video on X showing commandos rappelling from helicopters onto the Tagor, during an operation that occurred the previous day in international waters 740 km west of Brittany.
The tanker, which had sailed from Russia's Arctic port of Murmansk, was suspected of flying under a false flag, and was intercepted with support from Britain, Macron said. According to the vessel tracker MarineTraffic, the 252-metre-long tanker was sailing under the flag of Madagascar.
