French authorities have stepped up their campaign against vessels suspected of helping Moscow dodge Western oil sanctions, with the boarding of the oil tanker 'Grinch' marking the second such operation in just a few weeks.
The 249-metre tanker was escorted to the Gulf of Fos, near the oil terminal at the port of Marseille-Fos, where its 58-year-old Indian captain was taken into custody on Saturday evening.
The move came three days after an operation in which French marine commandos were airlifted onto the ship in international waters.
Judicial authorities in Marseille have now taken charge of the case, opening a preliminary inquiry into suspected flagging offences.
Investigators from the Toulon maritime gendarmerie’s research section, working alongside the Marseille ship safety centre, are carrying out checks on board the vessel, particularly focusing on navigation documents and the “validity of the flag”, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
The rest of the crew – also Indian nationals – are being kept on board while the inspections continue.
The Grinch is anchored around 500 metres from the shore near the town of Martigues, under close watch by a French Navy vessel and two gendarmerie patrol boats.
Russian 'shadow fleet' ship detained by French navy resumes voyage
Exclusion zones
Maritime authorities have imposed both nautical and aerial exclusion zones to ensure the safety and security of the investigation.
The tanker was intercepted on Thursday morning in the Alboran Sea – between Spain and North Africa – during an operation carried out “with the assistance of several of our allies”, including the United Kingdom, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X.
Footage released by the French Navy shows marine commandos rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck and swiftly taking control of the bridge, loudly identifying themselves as French forces.
The Grinch is suspected of belonging to Russia’s so-called “ghost fleet”, a network of ageing tankers used to export oil while skirting sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
Under its current name, the vessel appears on the United Kingdom’s list of sanctioned ghost fleet ships.
On sanctions lists compiled by the European Union and the United States, however, it is listed under the name Carl – a reflection of the frequent renaming and reflagging used to obscure ownership and movements.
Dark vessels: how Russia steers clear of Western sanctions with a shadow fleet
Broader push
This is the second such operation carried out by France in recent weeks. At the end of September, French forces intercepted the tanker Boracay in the Atlantic and diverted it to the port of Saint-Nazaire.
That vessel was also on the European Union’s sanctions list.
As part of the Boracay investigation, both the captain and first mate were taken into custody, though prosecutors later decided to pursue charges only against the Chinese captain.
He is due to appear before a court in Britanny on 23 February on charges of refusal to comply.
Following that case, Macron said France wanted to “increase pressure on the ghost fleet because it clearly reduces Russia’s ability to finance its war effort” in Ukraine.
The boarding of the Grinch suggests that strategy is now being enforced more visibly at sea.
According to European Union figures, some 598 vessels suspected of being part of the ghost fleet are currently subject to EU sanctions, with international maritime cooperation increasingly seen as key to tightening enforcement.
(With newswires)
