French Navy Seizes Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker as Macron Vows to Cut War Funding

The French Navy detained the tanker Deliver near the coast of Sicily after it departed Russia’s Primorsk port under the flag of Cameroon, French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 25.

According to Macron, the vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet and was violating the sanctions regime designed to restrict Moscow’s oil revenues.

“We will not allow the ‘shadow fleet’ to circumvent sanctions and finance the Russian war machine,” Macron said.

Data from MarineTraffic shows the tanker was sailing from the Russian port of Primorsk to Singapore under the Cameroon flag. The vessel is also included in Ukraine’s sanctions list.

Macron said France detained the sanctioned tanker just days after the United Kingdom carried out a similar operation involving the vessel SMYRTOS.

According to him, the moves show European countries’ determination to crack down on Russia’s attempts to bypass sanctions.

The French president added that Europe will continue increasing pressure on Russia by raising the cost of its war against Ukraine.

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World

Europe vs. Russia’s Shadow Fleet: Why Detentions Alone Aren’t Enough

Jun 04, 2026 17:27

Russia’s shadow fleet is widely used to move oil and petroleum products around Western restrictions, often through older vessels, opaque ownership structures, and flags of convenience. European governments have increasingly targeted these ships as part of broader efforts to reduce the revenues Moscow uses to sustain its war.

Earlier, the Swedish Coast Guard took control of a suspected stateless vessel in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea, marking the second such incident in less than a week.

Before that, Swedish authorities detained the cargo vessel Caffa in the Baltic Sea after it was suspected of involvement in transporting grain taken from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

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