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Belgium Seizes Russian Shadow Fleet Oil Tanker in First Military Boarding Operation
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![Photo of Ivan Khomenko]( "Photo of Ivan Khomenko")
The Belgian Armed Forces, supported by French naval assets, successfully intercepted and boarded a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the North Sea on March 1.
The operation, code-named “Blue Intruder”, marks the first time Belgium has used military force to seize a vessel involved in circumventing international sanctions against Russia.
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According to Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken on his X, the mission was executed in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Special operations teams conducted a helicopter-borne assault to take control of the vessel. The tanker was intercepted near the coast of Ostend and is currently being escorted to the port of Zeebrugge for formal arrest and potential confiscation.
“The operation was carried out by a team of exceptionally brave military personnel. Great job,” Francken stated.
Without his shadow fleet Poetin can’t wage war against innocent Ukranians. So we take these vessels out. One by one. Till his war of agression stops.
— Theo Francken (@FranckenTheo) March 1, 2026
Belgium maybe a small country. But we are founding father of NATO and the EU and we take our responsability serious.
After… pic.twitter.com/rJ6lrYIXr7
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (referred to in local reports as Bart De Wever regarding the current administration’s stance) emphasized the legal grounds for the mission, stating: “Belgium will always ensure compliance with international maritime law and respond decisively to any security violations in its territorial waters.”
According to RTBF, the seized vessel is the Ethera (IMO 9387279), a 180-meter oil tanker built in 2008. At the time of the boarding, the ship was flying the flag of Guinea. However, Belgian Justice and North Sea Minister Annelies Verlinden clarified that the intervention was based on intelligence identifying the ship as a “stateless” vessel operating under a fraudulent flag.
The Ethera is currently under sanctions by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. It is linked to Fractal Marine DMCC, a UAE-based company identified as a major operator of Russia’s parallel shipping infrastructure.
Investigations by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense suggest the Ethera is part of a larger shipping empire controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani. He is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a senior political advisor to Iran’s leadership.
The network allegedly uses a fleet of aging tankers and front companies to transport Russian and Iranian crude oil, primarily to buyers in China, generating billions of dollars in revenue while masking the origin of the cargo and the identity of the owners.
Earlier, on February 3, 2026, Estonia conducted its largest-ever maritime security operation by seizing the container ship Baltic Spirit in the Gulf of Finland. The elite K-Commando unit, supported by naval and aerial assets, boarded the vessel and detained its 23 Russian crew members.
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