France Holds Indian Captain of Suspected Russian Sanctions-Busting Tanker
A preliminary investigation was opened on charges of failure to fly a flag.
Paris: France has taken into custody for questioning, the Indian captain of a tanker intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by the French Navy on suspicion of shipping oil in violation of sanctions against Russia. The Indian crew was being kept on board the ship, named ‘Grinch’.
A preliminary investigation was opened on charges of failure to fly a flag. The captain was handed to judicial authorities following the diversion of the oil tanker, and its arrival at anchorage in the Gulf of Fos-sur-Mer, French media reported, citing a statement by the Marseille prosecutor's office.
The ‘Grinch’ came from Murmansk in northwestern Russia and is suspected of being part of the sanctioned Russian “shadow fleet”. A video provided by the French military showed members of the navy boarding the ship from a helicopter earlier this week.
Russia is believed to be using a fleet of over 400 ships to evade sanctions over its war on Ukraine. France and other countries have vowed to crack down.
The fleet comprises aging vessels and tankers owned by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries, and sailing under flags from such countries.
Last September, French naval forces boarded another oil tanker off the French Atlantic coast that President Emmanuel Macron also linked to the shadow fleet. Putin denounced that interception as an act of piracy.
That tanker's captain will go on trial in February over the crew's alleged refusal to cooperate, according to French judicial authorities.
